Anthropic Warns Small AI Models Could Soon Form Self-Propagating IoT Botnets

Oct 13, 2026

Small artificial intelligence (AI) models may be months away from developing capabilities to self-replicate on IoT devices like smart ovens and off-brand Android TV boxes, according to a warning from Anthropic.

The frontier AI lab said small AI models could form autonomous, self-propagating worm botnets that are “challenging to shut down,” since “there’s no centralized point to shut off.”

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