Xbow autonomous AI claims top spot on the White Hat hacker leaderboards
AI may be helping generate autonomous cyber weapons but it's also helping fight cyber villains!
Cite or link to this article
Griffin, M. (2025) 'Xbow autonomous AI claims top spot on the White Hat hacker leaderboards', 311 Institute, 18 August. Available at: https://www.311institute.com/xbow-autonomous-ai-claims-top-spot-on-the-white-hat-hacker-leaderboards/ (Accessed: 1 October 2026).
Recently Artificial Intelligence (AI) models from OpenAI and Google DeepMind claimed the Gold in the Maths Olympiad, and now for the first time ever – as AI becomes increasingly capable of autonomous cyber offense and defense - an AI model has seized the top spot on a white hat hacking leaderboard.
In a blog post, the cybersecurity firm Xbow boasted about its historic rise to the top of the HackerOne leaderboard, which ranks the top ethical hackers in the US against each other as they duke it out in the name of cybersecurity.
AI and the Future of Cyber Defense, by Keynote Matthew Griffin
Xbow's use of AI for white hat hacking follows a long tradition of automation on both sides of the ethics divide, culminating in a majority of hackers using the technology. Xbow claims its AI is "fully autonomous," operating with minimal human input, though of course that's a common claim that often turns out to be more complicated in reality.
Xbow's AI is centered on what's known as "automated penetration testing," a method that simulates cyberattacks by exploiting vulnerabilities in a given system — a much faster version of the so-called "pentests" that human white hat hackers do on behalf of clients to probe their potential vulnerabilities.
As company founder Oege de Moor told Bloomberg, such "manual" — read: human-conducted — tests cost about $18,000 on average and can take weeks to complete, often leading businesses to put off this important security measure until it's too late.
"By automating this," de Moor said, "we can completely change the equation."
While it's clear that Xbow's process works, it's not without flaws. As PC Gamer notes, Xbow's tech is as prone to hallucination as any other AI — but the company circumvents any harm, it says, by having humans vet each issue as it arises.
Beyond winning the top hacker spot, the year-old startup has also raised $117 million in seed funding to date from financiers including Sequoia Capital and the venture capital firm NFDG. Speaking to Bloomberg, NFDG partner Nat Friedman said that although Xbow's AI is "exciting," he also finds it "somewhat terrifying."
"We are now in the era of machines hacking machines," Friedman said.
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Why does this matter?
AI may be helping generate autonomous cyber weapons but it's also helping fight cyber villains!
About the author
Matthew Griffin Founder, 311 Institute
Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath."
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Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath." 15-time best selling author of the "Codex of the Future" series, Matthew is the Founder and Futurist in Chief of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm working with royal households, world leaders, G7, G20, and G77 governments, NGOs, and multi-national mid and mega cap firms to help them explore, shape, and lead the next 50 years of business and society.
An award-winning YouTube creator with over a million followers, with an unrivalled global reach and impact, Matthew is a highly sought-after international keynote speaker, lecturer, and mentor who collaborates with global leaders through the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to shape pivotal initiatives such as the UN’s AI for Humanity program, the United Nations Conference of the Parties (UN COP), and the World Economic Forum in Davos.
As the former Global Head of Cloud, National Security, and Enterprise Sales for companies including Atos, Dell-EMC, and IBM, Matthew has a proven track record of building multi-billion dollar business units and turning failing divisions into market leaders. His ability to identify, analyse, and communicate the implications of hundreds of emerging technologies and trends is unparalleled, and his insights are trusted by many of the world’s most respected organisations, including ABB, Accenture, Adidas, AON, ARM, BCG, Centrica, Citi, Coca-Cola, Dentons, Deloitte, Dow Jones, EY, Google, KPMG, Lego, Legal & General, LinkedIn, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Qualcomm, RWE, Samsung, Siemens AG and Siemens Energy, T-Mobile, UBS, VISA, Walmart, Workday, Worldpay and many others.
Regularly featured in the global media including the AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, Forbes, Khaleej Times, Telegraph, TIME, ViacomCBS, WIRED, and the WSJ, Matthews mission is to help organisations create a fair and sustainable future whose benefits are shared by everyone irrespective of their ability, background, or circumstances.
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Sources and further reading
- Top 1 how xbow did it xbow.com
- Leaderboard hackerone.com
- majority of hackers using the technology tech-adv.com
- One of the best hackers in the country is an ai bot bloomberg.com
- important security measure cloudflare.com
- PC Gamer notes pcgamer.com
- raised $117 million in seed funding xbow.com
Source: first published by the 311 Institute on 18 August 2025. Cite as: Griffin, M. (2025). Xbow autonomous AI claims top spot on the White Hat hacker leaderboards. 311 Institute. https://www.311institute.com/xbow-autonomous-ai-claims-top-spot-on-the-white-hat-hacker-leaderboards/
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