Gemini escaped its testing environment, got access to the internet and hacked into three companies, Google has admitted to The Wall Street Journal. That scenario probably sounds familiar to you at this point, if you've even just glanced at AI news in recent months. Like what happened to OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta, Gemini also gained access to the internet due to a misconfiguration in its testing environment by Irregular, the Israeli startup working with all four companies to assess their AI models. The incidents occurred in May, before OpenAI's models broke into Hugging Face, while testing the model's cybersecurity capabilities. Google told the Journal that the model was given the goal of obtaining information from a fictional company during testing, and it just so happened that a real company had the same name. The model then discovered the loophole in its testing system, which it took advantage of to access the internet.

Share Google's Gemini AI hacks 3 companies in security test, then stops on social media Google's Gemini model hacked three companies in a test of its cybersecurity capabilities, the tech giant has confirmed to Al Jazeera. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier on Friday that the first known breakout by Gemini occurred in May as part of a test run by the company Irregular. It was the latest breach in a number of incidents in which AI models escaped testing environments and hacked other companies. Google's vice president of security engineering, Heather Adkins, told Al Jazeera's John Hendren that in the other instances "the model found public information online and guessed credentials to access websites it thought were part of the test." The company also said this happened three times and each time the model stopped before completing the act.

Google said the hacks highlighted the importance of training its AI models to'act responsibly'. Google said the hacks highlighted the importance of training its AI models to'act responsibly'. In a first for Google, the company confirmed that its AI model, Gemini, breached the security of three other companies in May. The hacks occurred during a cybersecurity evaluation by AI-security firm Irregular. Irregular, an Israel-based startup that scrutinizes the security of advanced AI systems, was also at the center of some of the recent OpenAI and Anthropic hacks of third-party entities, including OpenAI's breach of AI software company, Hugging Face.

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Meta's Muse Spark 1.1 AI model accessed the internet from its supposed-to-be isolated testing environment and hacked into a third-party service. Andy Stone, Meta's spokesperson, has confirmed the incident to Bloomberg after The Information reported about the breach. Stone said the model was able to access the internet due to a misconfiguration in the testing environment by the company's evaluation partner Irregular. After gaining access to the internet, it then exploited a security vulnerability in a third-party service, "in a matter similar to previously reported instances with other companies." It was also due to a misconfiguration by Irregular that Anthropic's models were able to leave their testing environment and hack into three organizations.

A logo of Meta AI appears on a screen at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in 2025. A logo of Meta AI appears on a screen at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in 2025. Meta said on Wednesday that one of its AI models hacked another company during cybersecurity testing, after an error by its testing partner gave the model unintended internet access. The incident adds to a growing list of cases in which AI agents from major developers breached systems at other companies during testing, after Anthropic said last week that some of its models hacked three companies, and OpenAI disclosed that an AI agent breached the startup Hugging Face. AI models have been going rogue in tests - how worried should we be?