Safety testing was an obscure part of building AI. Then models went rogue.

A string of incidents in which hacking evaluations of powerful artificial intelligence systems spilled out onto the open internet is prompting security experts and some lawmakers to question whether those tests are creating more trouble than they’re preventing. Over the last year, AI giants such as OpenAI and Anthropic have raced to design increasingly realistic digital testing grounds where they can let their most powerful models loose — and see how adept they are at slicing through digital infrastructure without any safety guardrails or human support. AI makers say the tests are critical for determining how dangerous their bleeding-edge models…