International Al Safety Report: First Key Update Capabilities and Risk Implications

The field of AI is moving too quickly for a single yearly publication to keep pace. Significant changes can occur on a timescale of months, sometimes weeks. This is why we are releasing Key Updates: shorter, focused reports that highlight the most important developments between full editions of the International AI Safety Report. With these updates, we aim to provide policymakers, researchers, and the public with up-to-date information to support wise decisions about AI governance. This first Key Update focuses on areas where especially significant changes have occurred since January 2025: advances in general-purpose AI systems' capabilities, and the implications for several critical risks. New training techniques have enabled AI systems to reason step-by-step and operate autonomously for longer periods, allowing them to tackle more kinds of work. However, these same advances create new challenges across biological risks, cyber security, and oversight of AI systems themselves. The International AI Safety Report is intended to help readers assess, anticipate, and manage risks from general-purpose AI systems. These Key Updates ensure that critical developments receive timely attention as the field rapidly evolves.