ThinkTankWeekly

The Security Foundations Beneath America’s AI Ambitions Are Cracking

CFR | 2026-05-24 | defense

Topics: AI, China, Cybersecurity, Trade, United States

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English Summary

The article argues that the foundational assumptions of U.S. cybersecurity—that attacks are expensive, that identities belong to people, and that human judgment is always present—are rapidly failing due to the diffusion of AI. Evidence includes the rise of automated cyberespionage and the discovery of vulnerabilities at machine speed, which are outpacing traditional defensive patching cycles. Policy-wise, the authors urge a mandatory 'audit of assumptions' across federal and private sectors to identify structural weaknesses before scaling AI, warning that this proactive self-assessment is a critical strategic advantage over competitors like China.

中文摘要

本文論述美國網路安全領域的基礎假設——即攻擊成本高昂、身份屬於個人,以及人類判斷力始終存在——正因人工智慧(AI)的普及而迅速瓦解。證據包括自動化網路間諜活動的興起,以及在機器速度下發現的漏洞,這些已超越了傳統的防禦修補週期。從政策層面來看,作者們敦促聯邦和私營部門必須進行強制性的「假設審計」,以在大規模部署AI之前識別結構性弱點,並警告稱,這種主動的自我評估是超越中國等競爭對手的關鍵戰略優勢。

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