OpenAI’s autonomous pipeline built 948 Linux kernel root exploits for about $1.2 million
Photo: Crypto Briefing
A single evaluation run surfaced 2,308 candidate kernel bugs, and so far only a fraction have been fixed upstream OpenAI has unveiled an autonomous system that hunts for flaws in the Linux kernel, and its first run produced working root exploits for 948 distinct vulnerabilities. The total API bill came to $1,213,430. That works out to an average of $1,279 per exploit. OpenAI announced the pipeline on November 4, 2026. Its first evaluation ran in mid-October 2026 against the Linux kernel master branch. The system examined approximately 2.8 million lines of security-relevant code.
Source: Crypto Briefing
