# Military AI Cyber Agents (MAICAs) Constitute a Global Threat to Critical Infrastructure

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.12094 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.12094/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 18 of its 62 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 12 Jun 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 18 of 18)

- [An Overview of Catastrophic AI Risks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.12001/) (2023)
- [The Fallacy of AI Functionality](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.09511/) (2022)
- [Superintelligent Agents Pose Catastrophic Risks: Can Scientist AI Offer a Safer Path?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.15657/) (2025)
- [Escalation Risks from Language Models in Military and Diplomatic Decision-Making](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.03408/) (2024)
- [CTIBench: A Benchmark for Evaluating LLMs in Cyber Threat Intelligence](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.07599/) (2024)
- [Spear Phishing With Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.06972/) (2023)
- [Gradual Disempowerment: Systemic Existential Risks from Incremental AI Development](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.16946/) (2025)
- [Frontier AI systems have surpassed the self-replicating red line](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.12140/) (2024)
- [LOKA Protocol: A Decentralized Framework for Trustworthy and Ethical AI Agent Ecosystems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.10915/) (2025)
- [Seesaw: High-throughput LLM Inference via Model Re-sharding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.06433/) (2025)
- [COA-GPT: Generative Pre-trained Transformers for Accelerated Course of Action Development in Military Operations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.01786/) (2024)
- [Distributed LLMs and Multimodal Large Language Models: A Survey on Advances, Challenges, and Future Directions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.16585/) (2025)
- [Model-Distributed Inference for Large Language Models at the Edge](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.18164/) (2025)
- [Maximizing Penetration Testing Success with Effective Reconnaissance Techniques using ChatGPT](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.06391/) (2023)
- [On-Device Qwen2.5: Efficient LLM Inference with Model Compression and Hardware Acceleration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.17376/) (2025)
- [Enhancing AI-based Generation of Software Exploits with Contextual Information](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.02402/) (2024)
- [Shedding Light on the Targeted Victim Profiles of Malicious Downloaders](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.13278/) (2022)
- [Designing AI-Enabled Countermeasures to Cognitive Warfare](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.11486/) (2025)

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [Dimensional Characterization and Pathway Modeling for Catastrophic AI Risks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.06411/) (2025)
- [A Criminology of Machines](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.02895/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

This paper argues that autonomous AI cyber-weapons - Military-AI Cyber Agents (MAICAs) - create a credible pathway to catastrophic risk. It sets out the technical feasibility of MAICAs, explains why geopolitics and the nature of cyberspace make MAICAs a catastrophic risk, and proposes political, defensive-AI and analogue-resilience measures to blunt the threat.