Jamie Dimon is personally recruiting executives across U.S. banking, technology, energy, and telecom to join a coalition designed to defend critical infrastructure against AI-driven cyberattacks. Reuters reported Feb. 5 that the JPMorgan Chase CEO wants to broaden and reorganize the Alliance for Critical Infrastructure (ACI) into a cross-industry joint-response framework that could be fully operational by the end of this year.
The stakes extend beyond any single company. Regulators and industry leaders increasingly say that securing individual corporations is not enough when AI tools could be used to attack water systems, power grids, banks, and telecom networks simultaneously. ACI is being rebuilt so that companies in different sectors share threat information and coordinate safeguards rather than respond on their own.
What is the Alliance for Critical Infrastructure?
ACI was co-founded by JPMorgan, Mastercard, and Berkshire Hathaway Energy. Its stated mission is to build cross-industry information-sharing and joint-response systems that strengthen the resilience of national critical infrastructure against cyberattacks, physical threats, and geopolitical risks.
The reorganized coalition plans to establish joint standards on AI use, potential risks, and needed safeguards. It also intends to discuss those standards with the Trump administration while exploring responses, according to Reuters sources.
A widening circle of industries
Since last month, invitations have gone out to more than 40 corporations in critical infrastructure fields, including financial services, energy, water, electricity, telecommunications, aviation, and railroads. ACI is scheduling calls this month with companies that want to participate, the sources said.
Dimon has been reaching out directly to chief executives at major U.S. banks, leading regional banks, and IT corporations. In a statement, he said: "ACI has for years prioritized AI to bring together critical infrastructure corporations to cooperate. We are proud to support this important work."
He added in a CNBC interview: "The government and industry will play roles advising each other."
Pressure builds after water-facility attacks
The push comes after recent cyberattacks targeting water facilities in places including Minnesota. The incidents showed that threat actors are already probing critical systems and that no single utility or company has full visibility into the risk.
The U.S. government launched its own coordination effort last month. The Gold Eagle project brings together AI developers, critical infrastructure operators, and federal agencies to share vulnerabilities found in high-performance AI models and coordinate responses.
Dimon has also pushed for tighter controls on high-performance AI. He cited risks posed by Anthropic's AI model "Mythos" and warned that offering high-performance AI without controls is "like handing a person a ballistic missile."
Why this matters for government professionals
Government agencies at the federal, state, and local levels are likely to be drawn into this private-sector coordination network, either as partners or as targets. The ACI framework will need input from agencies that oversee water, energy, and transportation. The Gold Eagle project already requires federal participation in AI vulnerability response.
For people working in government, the practical takeaway is that AI security policy is shifting from compliance checklists toward shared operational response. Agencies that build relationships with coalitions like ACI, map their own critical systems, and prepare to exchange threat data with private operators will be better positioned than those that wait for formal regulation to arrive.
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