In what could be a major turning point for cybersecurity, Google CEO Sundar Pichai revealed on Tuesday, July 15, 2025, that the company’s AI agent, ‘Big Sleep’, successfully identified and prevented a cyber exploit—before it had the chance to unfold. This represents the first known instance of artificial intelligence preemptively stopping a cyberattack.
Key Takeaways:
- Google’s AI agent, Big Sleep, prevented a cyberattack before it could be executed.
- It’s reportedly the first time an AI agent has proactively foiled a cyber exploit.
- Developed by Google DeepMind and Google Project Zero, Big Sleep hunts for unknown software vulnerabilities.
- The AI agent discovered a critical SQLite vulnerability (CVE-2025-6965).
- Pichai called this a shift toward AI-powered preemptive defense in cybersecurity.
Pichai shared the announcement via X (formerly Twitter), writing, “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.” If anything, the statement suggests we’re only beginning to see what AI might bring to digital defense.
Big Sleep: A Closer Look at What It Does
Big Sleep is the result of a collaboration between Google DeepMind and Google Project Zero, and it isn’t just any AI. It’s specifically designed to actively scour software for previously unknown vulnerabilities—those that haven’t even been flagged yet. That puts it a step ahead of the typical reactive methods we’re used to seeing in cybersecurity.
In this particular case, the AI unearthed a critical vulnerability in SQLite, known as CVE-2025-6965. Given how widely used SQLite is across software and devices, any vulnerability here could have broad implications. Google stated that the flaw was already in the sights of threat actors gearing up for exploitation. But thanks to a mix of threat intelligence and Big Sleep’s predictive analysis, the exploit was stopped before it even started.
Big Sleep has been operational since November 2024, and Google says it’s already uncovered several real-world software flaws—even those that evaded traditional methods like fuzz testing. Its strength, according to engineers, lies in “variant analysis”—where the AI examines recent code changes and draws on known patterns to flag emerging risks. It’s not perfect, but it’s far more aggressive than the tools we’re used to.
A New Chapter for Cybersecurity?
The implications are hard to ignore. Cybersecurity has long been a reactive game: attackers strike, defenders patch. But AI like Big Sleep seems to flip that equation. It offers the possibility of identifying and neutralizing threats before they get off the ground.
And this isn’t just a one-off. Google has been steadily enhancing its AI security stack. They’re adding new AI-powered features to Timesketch, their open-source digital forensics tool, leveraging something called Sec-Gemini to streamline investigations. Since 2018, they’ve also used FACADE (Fast and Accurate Contextual Anomaly Detection), another AI tool, to identify insider threats.
So this feels like a broader strategy. One where AI doesn’t just assist security professionals but starts taking on proactive defense roles that would be overwhelming for humans alone. That being said, there’s still a lot we don’t know about the risks AI itself introduces—false positives, overreliance, adversarial exploitation. But for now, the edge it gives defenders seems hard to dismiss.
As Sundar Pichai previously put it, AI has the potential to offer a “disproportionate” advantage to those defending digital infrastructure. This incident with Big Sleep might just be the first visible sign of that.
FAQ Section
Q1: What is Google’s AI agent ‘Big Sleep’?
A1: Big Sleep is an artificial intelligence agent developed collaboratively by Google DeepMind and Google Project Zero. It’s designed to proactively search for and identify unknown software vulnerabilities before attackers can exploit them.
Q2: How did Big Sleep foil the cyberattack?
A2: It detected a critical vulnerability in SQLite (CVE-2025-6965) that was already being targeted by threat actors. Using this insight, Google was able to neutralize the threat before it could be executed.
Q3: Is this the first time an AI has prevented a cyberattack?
A3: Yes, according to Sundar Pichai, this is the first documented case where an AI agent proactively intercepted and halted a cyber exploit.
Q4: What is the significance of this event for cybersecurity?
A4: This marks a shift from reactive to proactive defense, signaling a future where AI agents might play key roles in anticipating and preventing cyber threats.
Q5: Will Google offer Big Sleep’s capabilities to other companies?
A5: Google hasn’t detailed plans to commercialize Big Sleep just yet. However, Pichai’s comments suggest this technology may eventually be extended to Google Cloud users and potentially woven into open-source projects aimed at improving global cybersecurity.
