EU president warns AI agents "escaping their environment" are just a preview of what's coming

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned in her State of the Union 2026 address that AI agents "escaping their environment" are just a preview of coming risks, citing the Hugging Face incident and saying models under development "will allow hacking on a level we never thought possible." Von der Leyen said she plans to work with Canada, the UK, and other partners on model evaluation, verification, and AI safety, and will invite the major frontier labs to talks, calling the AI Act "a crucial piece to putting guardrails in place." The EU reportedly still lacks reliable access to the most advanced cybersecurity models from the big AI labs.

EU president warns AI agents "escaping their environment" are just a preview of what's coming Ursula von der Leyen wants to offer the big US AI labs European expertise on slowing down AI development. In her State of the Union 2026 address https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/speech 26 1868 , the Commission president called AI the foundation of the economy and national security but said its risks must be kept in check. Von der Leyen tapped into both narratives shaping the market right now. Pointing to the Hugging Face incident https://the-decoder.com/new-reports-reveal-the-extent-of-openais-loss-of-control-during-the-autonomous-hack-on-hugging-face/ , she warned that "models being developed will allow hacking on a level we never thought possible." AI agents "escaping their environment" are just a preview, and the dangers of self-improving models https://the-decoder.com/anthropic-scientist-puts-the-odds-of-ai-destroying-humanity-above-ten-percent-this-decade/ are "becoming ever more apparent." "If the people developing the technology are clear about this, then we should be too," she said. Von der Leyen plans to work with Canada, the UK, and other partners on model evaluation, verification, and AI safety, and will invite the major frontier labs to talks. The AI Act, she argued, is "a crucial piece to putting guardrails in place." So far, the EU reportedly doesn't even have reliable access https://the-decoder.com/the-eu-wants-to-regulate-ai-but-needs-openai-and-anthropic-to-let-regulators-through-the-door/ to the most advanced cybersecurity models from the big AI labs. AI News Without the Hype – Curated by Humans Subscribe to THE DECODER for ad-free reading, a weekly AI newsletter, our exclusive "AI Radar" frontier report six times a year, full archive access, and access to our comment section. Subscribe now EU https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/speech 26 1868