The intelligence alliance known as the Five Eyes has issued a stark warning that advanced artificial intelligence systems could dramatically reshape global cybersecurity, with serious cyber threats potentially emerging within months rather than years.

The warning was contained in a joint statement from cybersecurity agencies in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, which said that so-called “frontier AI models” are rapidly accelerating both offensive and defensive cyber capabilities.

Officials said the pace of development has become so fast that traditional cybersecurity planning timelines are no longer sufficient, as attackers may soon gain access to tools capable of exploiting system vulnerabilities at unprecedented speed and scale.

“Frontier AI models are anticipated to exceed current industry expectations, fundamentally transforming both offensive and defensive cyber capabilities. The timeline is not years, it is months.”

The agencies stressed that AI is already lowering the barrier to entry for cybercriminals, enabling more actors to launch sophisticated attacks with less technical expertise, while simultaneously shrinking the window between vulnerability discovery and exploitation.

They also warned that organizations should assume breaches will occur and focus more heavily on resilience, rapid response, and system recovery rather than relying solely on prevention.

Cybersecurity authorities urged governments and businesses to strengthen basic security practices, including faster software patching, improved access controls, and reduced exposure of critical systems to the internet. They also encouraged the responsible use of AI tools to enhance defensive capabilities, such as threat detection and incident response.

The statement further emphasized that cyber risk should no longer be treated as a purely technical issue but as a core leadership and business risk with implications for national security, economic stability, and public trust.

Experts say the rise of increasingly autonomous AI systems could enable attackers to identify weaknesses, generate exploit code, and execute coordinated cyber operations at speeds beyond human response capacity.

The Five Eyes alliance concluded that urgent and coordinated action is needed across governments and industries to prevent a widening gap between offensive cyber capabilities and defensive readiness as AI continues to evolve rapidly.