The United States government invited a number of artificial intelligence (AI) technology developers, including Anthropic, Google, Microsoft and OpenAI, to compete to create a cyber security system using AI.

The competition, called the AI Cyber Challenge, was announced at the Black Hat USA conference in Las Vegas on Wednesday (9/10). This event, held by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), provides prizes of 20 million US dollars (Rp. 303 billion) for the best AI cyber security system capable of protecting government infrastructure from the transportation sector to electrical energy.

“In an increasingly connected world, software underlies everything from public utilities to our financial systems. “Cyber space guards are tasked with protecting a frightening maze of technology, and currently, they do not have the tools capable of maintaining security on this scale,” DARPA Program Manager Perri Adams told The Verge, broadcast Wednesday (9/8) local time.

Although AI has the potential to be exploited in cyber attacks, one of which is by generating malicious code, some experts believe that advances in AI technology can help strengthen an organization's cyber defenses by allowing cybersecurity experts to carry out their duties more efficiently.

According to a Kroll poll of global business leaders, more than half said they are now using AI in their latest cybersecurity systems.

The participants are planned to start the qualifying stage next spring and the participants who qualify will compete in the semifinals at next year's DEF CON event. After that, the five best participants will compete in the final round of DEF CON 2025.

Adams explained that the competition winners will then be asked to open source their systems so they can be used by everyone from volunteers, open source developers, to commercial industry.

He hopes that the AI Cyber Challenge will not only produce a new generation of cyber security systems, but also show how AI technology can be used for the benefit of society by protecting the important foundations of the technology.