Google’s AI agent ‘Big Sleep’ foils cyberattack in groundbreaking first, says Sundar Pichai

In a major breakthrough for cybersecurity, Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced on Tuesday (July 15) that the company’s AI agent, Big Sleep, successfully identified and thwarted a cyber exploit before it could be deployed — a first-of-its-kind achievement for artificial intelligence in threat prevention.

“New from our security teams: Our AI agent Big Sleep helped us detect and foil an imminent exploit. We believe this is a first for an AI agent – definitely not the last – giving cybersecurity defenders new tools to stop threats before they’re widespread,” Pichai posted on X (formerly Twitter).

A new era in cybersecurity?

This marks a potential inflection point in cybersecurity, as AI shifts from passive defense — identifying threats post-breach — to proactive interdiction.

What’s next for ‘Big Sleep’

Google has not disclosed when Big Sleep was deployed or how long it has been operational. However, Pichai’s post suggests this is just the beginning of more AI-driven defense tools that will be used across Google’s ecosystem and offered to cloud clients.

This incident also raises questions about how governments, enterprises, and cloud service providers will collaborate with AI to stay ahead of increasingly sophisticated threat actors.

As cyberattacks grow more frequent and damaging, the use of advanced AI like Big Sleep may become standard across global IT defenses.