Websites go dark as AI exposes critical security flaws worldwide

Increasingly powerful AI models can spot weak points in computer scripts that hackers can exploit. © Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP

Washington (AFP) – Governments and companies around the world shut down websites as they raced Thursday to protect themselves from hacks after artificial intelligence uncovered critical flaws in a widely used programming language called PHP.

PHP helps run about 70 percent of the world's websites – from online stores and news outlets to government services – according to Wiz Research, one of the cybersecurity firms that found the two flaws.