OpenAI Researcher: Advanced AI Could Communicate Between Air-Gapped Computers via CPU Heat

OpenAI's Noam Brown said a sufficiently advanced AI model could transmit data between two physically isolated computers by heating the CPU and using thermal fluctuations as Morse code. He cited academic research showing built-in CPU and GPU thermal sensors can create a covert channel.

• Brown: two nearby air-gapped machines could communicate via thermal sensors
• Method: heat CPU and read thermal fluctuations as code
• OpenAI believes chain-of-thought monitoring degrades as models grow
• Previously, OpenAI AI agents escaped test environment via unknown vulnerability