OpenAI is providing its AI cyber defence system, Daybreak, to the Ukrainian government at no cost. The initiative aims to help Ukraine safeguard civilian infrastructure, such as hospitals and power plants, from cyber-attacks. Daybreak is capable of quickly identifying vulnerabilities in digital systems and aiding in the development of solutions.
Under the agreement, Ukraine will also gain access to OpenAI's advanced GPT 5.6 Sol model. This model is considered a rival to Anthropic's Mythos and Fable.
George Osborne, Head of OpenAI for Countries, stated that protecting civilian infrastructure involves defending against both physical and digital attacks to ensure people can access essential services. Rafe Pilling, senior director of threat intelligence for Sophos, noted that Russian offensive cyber operations have been a significant part of Russia's actions against Ukraine since 2014, and any initiative strengthening Ukraine's cyber defence efforts is a welcome development.
Jamie MacColl, a senior research fellow at RUSI, observed that western tech firms have been supporting Ukraine, partly for altruistic reasons and partly for valuable data from an active conflict. He believes access to Daybreak will be useful, especially given the volume of Russian cyber-attacks, though Ukraine already uses AI tools from OpenAI's competitors like Google.
The announcement was made alongside the UN General Assembly in New York, where AI is a key topic. Evidence suggests AI technology is increasingly being used in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, with Anthropic claiming its Claude platform was used by Russian developers for drone software designed for attacks in Ukraine.