Moonshot tweaks the hack out of latest AI model

Moonshot AI has reduced the cyber-offensive capabilities of its newest model, the Chinese startup said on Saturday, as fears grow that increasingly autonomous artificial intelligence could turbocharge hacking. Beijing-based Moonshot announced the curbs while introducing Kimi K3.1 Pro, which it describes as its most capable three-trillion-parameter-class open-weight model. The company plans to publish the model's weights – files allowing outside developers to run and modify it on their own systems – by November 4. Moonshot said it removed cyber-related data from the training corpus and reinforcement-learning environments used to develop the model while retaining general coding skills. "We aim not to release open weights that would extend the absolute frontier of cyber capability," the company said. Governments, technology companies and security researchers are growing increasingly concerned that AI could make sophisticated hacking easier and cheaper. Models that can write code, operate software tools and complete long, multi-step tasks may help users identify weaknesses in programs and automate parts of cyberattacks. China proposed export controls last week that would ban exports of AI-driven malware-generation and mutation technology and restrict AI-assisted vulnerability-discovery tools. The draft measures, which remain open for public comment, cite the risk that such capabilities could be used against critical infrastructure, defence-industrial and...