A study found that artificial intelligence (AI) could infiltrate smart home appliances such as TVs, refrigerators and robot vacuums on its own and use them as hacking footholds. It said AI models can run by combining the computing resources of multiple appliances even without data centers equipped with graphics processing units (GPUs).

Anthropic’s Frontier Red Team warned that small AI models could become capable of autonomously copying themselves across poorly secured internet-connected devices within months or by the end of 2026.