AI agents are getting better at cybersecurity. That cuts both ways.

In July, OpenAI disclosed that several of its AI models had circumvented controls designed to isolate them from the internet during cybersecurity evaluations.

But the fact that increasingly capable agents can find ways beyond their intended boundaries creates an interesting new cybersecurity problem.

Faced with a rapidly growing flood of vulnerabilities, including some that AI systems themselves may help discover or exploit, the agency is turning to agentic AI as part of the defense.

NIST has already begun developing a tool called V-etalon that uses AI technologies to help enrich vulnerability information.

More capable AI systems can discover and potentially exploit vulnerabilities faster, adding new pressure to an already rapidly expanding vulnerability-management ecosystem.