ICBA + OpenAI: Bringing Frontier Cybersecurity Capabilities to Main Street

Daybreak for Frontline Defenders is OpenAI’s initiative to expand access to advanced AI-enabled cybersecurity capabilities for organizations protecting essential services. OpenAI has committed significant subsidized Daybreak access, training, technical assistance, and partnerships, with community and regional banks specifically identified among the organizations it intends to prioritize. 

Daybreak supports defensive cybersecurity activities such as vulnerability identification and validation, threat investigation, authorized security testing, remediation, and other governed defensive workflows. 

Apply for Daybreak

ICBA members interested in Daybreak will apply directly through OpenAI’s Daybreak registration process. 

When completing the application, please identify that your institution is an ICBA member in response to the question: “What critical infrastructure do you support, and do you need Daybreak access, funding, or both?” This will help OpenAI identify applications coming through the ICBA-OpenAI strategic alliance and prioritize your request.  

OpenAI—not ICBA—determines eligibility and approves access. Applicants should expect to provide organizational information and information about their intended professional cybersecurity use case. OpenAI may request additional verification or clarification as part of the approval process. 

Apply for Daybreak

No. ICBA membership provides access to the education, training, peer-learning, and other benefits of the strategic alliance, but Daybreak approval is determined independently by OpenAI based on its eligibility, verification, availability, and program requirements. 

Submitting an application does not guarantee access. 

There is no additional ICBA fee to participate in the education, training, AI Show-n-Tell, or ICBA Community activities associated with the strategic alliance. These benefits are included with ICBA membership. 

Eligible institutions accepted into Daybreak for Frontline Defenders may also qualify for subsidized or complimentary OpenAI access in accordance with OpenAI’s program terms. 

No. ICBA members can participate in the educational components of the strategic alliance even if their institution does not apply for or receive Daybreak access. 

Some banks may want to learn first and evaluate whether Daybreak is appropriate for their institution later. 

ICBA and OpenAI plan to provide recurring educational opportunities focused on practical use of advanced AI for cybersecurity. Sessions may feature world-renowned experts from OpenAI alongside ICBA and, where appropriate, community bankers and other cybersecurity practitioners. 

• Understanding Daybreak and frontier cyber AI capabilities 

• Responsible and authorized cybersecurity use 

• Vulnerability management and remediation 

• AI governance and security 

• Prompting for cybersecurity workflows 

• Implementing AI within existing bank cybersecurity programs 

• Lessons learned from community banks using advanced AI capabilities 

No certification is required to participate in ICBA’s educational programming. However, some basic familiarity with cybersecurity, information technology, or operational risk will make the sessions more useful. At a minimum, participants exploring hands-on use should be comfortable interacting with generative AI tools and understand basic prompting. 

For more advanced Daybreak capabilities, banks should designate personnel with sufficient cybersecurity or technical knowledge to responsibly evaluate model outputs and determine appropriate actions. 

Potential participants may include the following roles. For smaller banks where one person wears several of these hats, that is completely appropriate. 

• Chief Information Officers 

• Chief Information Security Officers 

• IT and cybersecurity professionals 

• Information security officers 

• Technology and operations leaders 

• Operational-risk professionals 

• Executives responsible for cybersecurity oversight 

Depending on the access level and approved use case, Daybreak capabilities can support a range of defensive cybersecurity activities. 

• Identifying and validating vulnerabilities 

• Reviewing configurations and code 

• Prioritizing cybersecurity findings 

• Authorized security testing 

• Threat investigation 

• Supporting remediation 

• Developing and testing fixes 

No. The objective is to complement—not replace—the people, providers, processes, and security tools a community bank already relies on. 

In many cases, advanced AI capabilities may be most useful when incorporated into existing security and risk-management workflows. 

ICBA does not encourage banks to provide customer information simply to experiment with Daybreak. Each bank remains responsible for its own data governance, cybersecurity policies, vendor due diligence, and decisions about what information may appropriately be used with an AI system. 

Before using any AI capability with bank information, and in particular any customer information, review your institution’s policies, customer disclosures, data-classification requirements, vendor-management obligations, and approved-use processes. 

Access ICBA Community Bank AI Security Readiness Guide

No. OpenAI administers Daybreak, performs its own eligibility and verification process, and grants access directly. 

ICBA helps members understand the opportunity, provides education and peer support, surfaces member questions, and helps community bank perspectives inform the broader initiative. 

AI Show-n-Tell is ICBA’s new peer-learning forum where community bankers show other community bankers how they are actually using AI. 

Sessions focus on practical demonstrations, lessons learned, implementation challenges, governance considerations, and ideas that other institutions can adapt. 

The goal is not a vendor sales pitch. It is banker-to-banker learning. 

Register Your Interest Here

ICBA members will be able to continue conversations through ICBA Community, where bankers can ask questions, exchange resources, discuss use cases, and learn from institutions facing similar implementation decisions. This creates an ongoing peer network beyond individual webinars or events. 

Join the conversation at ICBA Community

OpenAI’s Frontline Defenders initiative is designed to provide subsidized access for eligible organizations during the initial program period. ICBA recognizes that banks will need clarity about long-term access and costs before making significant operational commitments. 

ICBA and OpenAI will provide participating institutions with information about available continuation options as those details are established. Those options could include continued paid access, different model or service tiers, or access through participating cybersecurity providers. 

Banks will not be automatically enrolled in a paid ICBA offering simply because they participate in training or apply for Daybreak. 

For several months, ICBA has been working to ensure community banks are included in national efforts to expand access to advanced AI-enabled cyber capabilities, including recognition of community banks as critical infrastructure providers in the President’s Executive Order on Promoting Advanced Artificial Intelligence Innovation and Security.  

At the same time, ICBA has consistently emphasized that access must be cost-effective and sustainable for community banks. We have encouraged frontier AI labs to develop pricing and delivery models that reflect the budgets, staffing, structures, and technology environments of community banks.  

As the Daybreak program evolves, ICBA will continue advocating for affordable long-term access, including preferred pricing, lower-cost model options, and other approaches that can help ensure community banks are not priced out once the complimentary period ends.

Yes. In fact, that may be the right path for many institutions. 

Banks can use the ICBA–OpenAI educational programming to understand the technology, evaluate internal readiness, identify the appropriate personnel, and determine whether applying for Daybreak makes sense for their institution.

That is perfectly fine. The alliance is designed to help banks at different stages of AI adoption. Some institutions will be ready to experiment with advanced cyber capabilities immediately. Others may initially participate only in education, peer learning, and governance discussions. 

There is value in understanding the technology before deciding to deploy it. 

No specific cybersecurity provider is required to participate in ICBA educational programming. Daybreak eligibility and technical requirements are determined by OpenAI based on the specific access pathway. 

Any separate pilot involving a specific cybersecurity provider will be described independently so that it is not confused with the broader strategic alliance or Daybreak access. 

ICBA membership gives community banks access to a national association focused exclusively on advancing and protecting the interests of community banks, including opportunities like the ICBA–OpenAI strategic alliance, member-only education, peer-to-peer learning, policy advocacy, and specialized resources designed for community bank leaders and their teams. 

Banks interested in joining ICBA can contact our Membership team to learn more about eligibility, benefits, and the enrollment process. 

Once membership is established, the bank can take advantage of ICBA member benefits associated with the ICBA-OpenAI strategic alliance, including training, peer-to-peer engagements, and other member resources, while any Daybreak access remains subject to OpenAI’s separate eligibility and application requirements. 

To join ICBA, please contact our membership team.

No. Regulators are not participants in the ICBA-OpenAI strategic alliance or in individual banks’ participation in Daybreak. ICBA will continue its separate, ongoing engagement with federal and state regulators on artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, operational risk, and emerging technology. As appropriate, ICBA may use aggregated lessons and broader themes from the alliance to inform those discussions, while individual bank participation, identifies, and non-public information will remain confidential unless the bank provides consent for disclosure.  

No, a participating bank’s name or logo will not be publicly used or disclosed without the bank’s separate prior written consent. 

Not sure where to begin? Start with education. 

• Register to attend an upcoming current member webinar. 

• Review ICBA’s Community Bank AI Security Readiness Guide. 

• Talk with your IT/security team about potential defensive use cases. 

• Join an AI Show-n-Tell session to hear from peer banks. 

• Apply for Daybreak when your institution is ready. 

ICBA members can contact us with questions about ICBA training, resources, or member programming. 

Questions about Daybreak applications, eligibility, verification, or model access should be directed to OpenAI through its Daybreak support channels.