Experts warned last night that it may be too late to contain AI after one program was found to have created fake human identities to hack into online systems.

In the latest example of the technology going rogue, AI software attempted to break into a database 19 times while being tested by the AI Security Institute, Britain’s AI watchdog.

And in one unprecedented case, an AI tool was even caught creating fake human identities online to trick coders into assisting with a cyber-attack.

The revelations came after the Daily Mail revealed in July that all five AI models tested by experts tried to trick their way around security controls that had been put in place.

Just days previously it emerged that the US tech firm OpenAI had experienced its own leak – when an AI ‘agent’ hacked into another company of its own accord.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch warned AI was now a ‘clear and present danger’ to Britain’s security.

Julia Lopez, the Conservatives’ science, innovation and technology spokeswoman, called the reports ‘a stark reminder that AI is becoming more sophisticated and more autonomous’.

She added: ‘We all want Britain to lead on AI innovation, but this has to come with safeguards for our national security and accountability from the developers of the most powerful AI models.

‘Labour need to be clearer about how the most serious frontier risks will be addressed while ensuring that our world-class tech industry can grow and innovate to build our national resilience and prosperity’.

Henry de Zoete, the Government’s AI adviser, warned yesterday he expected more hacking attempts like these.

Allison Gardner, who chairs Parliament’s cross-party group on artificial intelligence, told the Daily Mail that ‘just because we can build these technologies doesn’t mean we should’.

She warned that the risk levels of agentic AI – AI that can perform a specific goal with limited supervision – should be treated with the greatest scrutiny, adding: ‘Unless we are too late and have not only created Pandora’s Box but already opened it.’

The AI Security Institute (AISI), set up by ex-PM Rishi Sunak in 2023, detected evidence of the AI agents’ activity last week. In a report published on Tuesday, it revealed that leading AI models from the firms OpenAI and Anthropic had attempted to hack into secure systems online under testing.

The experts discovered ‘unusual data transfers’ leaving their systems during routine cyber scanning. Digging deeper, they found that some AI agents had engaged in ‘sustained, potentially harmful activity directed at real people and organisations’.

They began a full investigation after containing the AI agents before they did any real damage.

In an attempt to reassure the public, AI minister Kanishka Narayan said: ‘Identifying behaviour like this, and sharing knowledge so we can better understand it, is precisely what we set AISI up to do. This incident underlines why their world-leading expertise and close work with frontier labs is so important.’

But pointing to the speed at which AI agents are finding ways to behave deviously, AISI said: ‘This is the first time we have seen risks around autonomy and deception manifest this clearly, without specific prompting, in the real world.’

Read More: Too late to contain AI? As rogue AI stages hack attack, experts warn it may be too late to stop it