CIS, OpenAI pilot AI tools for under-resourced government cyber teams

The Center for Internet Security Inc. (CIS) and OpenAI have launched a pilot program designed to test how artificial intelligence can strengthen cybersecurity defenses for U.S. state, local, tribal, and territorial governments and critical infrastructure operators facing increasingly sophisticated threats with constrained resources.

The AI Cyber Defense Pilot will bring together government and critical infrastructure organizations of varying sizes, regions, and cybersecurity maturity levels from the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) community. Participants will use OpenAI's technology to identify, validate, and prioritize security findings, support remediation efforts, and advance best practices aligned with the CIS Critical Security Controls.

Why it matters

Many public sector organizations and critical infrastructure operators must defend complex environments with skeleton crews and limited budgets while foreign adversaries increasingly target essential services. AI-powered tools could help these under-resourced teams make faster, smarter decisions about which risks demand immediate attention—potentially closing security gaps before attackers exploit them. The pilot's findings will inform broader adoption strategies across the public sector.

Testing AI against real-world challenges

The program will evaluate whether AI can help organizations detect risks faster, better prioritize security actions, strengthen cyber hygiene practices, and improve overall cyber readiness. The MS-ISAC community's operational experience—gained from daily work helping governments prevent, detect, respond to, and recover from cyber incidents—will inform the pilot's focus on practical challenges facing public sector defenders.

"The services Americans rely on every day are increasingly in the crosshairs of cyber threats," said Brian Calkin, Chief Technology and Innovation Officer at CIS. "At a time when defenders at the state and local government level are challenged by a growing threat landscape, AI has the potential to be a game changer."

Sasha Baker, Head of National Security Policy at OpenAI, described the effort as addressing a "defender's window"—a narrowing opportunity to use frontier AI to close security gaps before attackers seize them. The partnership aims to ensure that opportunity reaches defenders protecting essential services, including smaller and under-resourced teams, with the tools, training, and support to use AI for stronger defenses.

Beyond the pilot

Beyond supporting pilot participants directly, the program will produce implementation guidance, lessons learned, and recommendations to inform future adoption of AI-powered cybersecurity capabilities across the public sector and critical infrastructure community. CIS and OpenAI aim to identify practical, scalable approaches that help defenders reduce risk, improve resilience, and better protect essential services.

The pilot reflects CIS's broader commitment to helping government organizations navigate AI opportunities and challenges. As AI becomes increasingly integrated into government and critical infrastructure operations, organizations must balance innovation with risk-based approaches to security, transparency, resilience, and accountability.

Details of the program were first reported by Industrial Cyber.