Gartner warns misconfigured AI could trigger shutdown of national infrastructure by 2028

Gartner has warned that a misconfigured artificial intelligence system could shut down national critical infrastructure in a G20 country within the next two years, underscoring growing risks as AI becomes deeply embedded in cyber-physical systems that control essential services.

In a new prediction, the research firm said that by 2028, failures caused not by cyberattacks or natural disasters but by configuration errors in AI systems could lead to large-scale disruption of services such as power, manufacturing and industrial operations. These systems increasingly rely on AI-driven automation to sense, analyse and respond to real-world conditions in real time.

Gartner groups these technologies under cyber-physical systems (CPS), a category that includes operational technology, industrial control systems, industrial automation, industrial internet of things platforms, robots and drones. As AI takes on greater autonomy within these environments, even small errors in configuration could have disproportionate consequences.

“The next major infrastructure failure ...