cPAID: Cloud-based Platform-agnostic Adversarial AI Defence Framework

The European Union has launched the cPAID project, short for Cloud-based Platform-agnostic Adversarial AI Defence Framework, to address one of today’s most urgent digital challenges: securing Artificial Intelligence (AI).

AI is now crucial to healthcare, transport, energy, and environmental monitoring, yet it faces new kinds of cyberattacks, such as poisoned training data, deceptive inputs, and model theft, which are risks that traditional security cannot stop. cPAID, an HORIZON project, launched in 2024 with a lifespan of 3 years, brings together 17 organisations across Europe, including universities, research institutes, technology companies, and a hospital.

Its goal is to create a framework that protects AI systems throughout their entire lifecycle, from data collection and training to deployment and real-time operation.

The project is developing tools to test AI against simulated cyberattacks, monitor behaviour for abnormalities, and adapt dynamically to emerging risks. It extends established practices in software development by embedding privacy, security, and explainability into every stage of AI.

Generative AI will be used to create realistic attack scenarios, strengthening defences before systems are exposed to real-world threats. To ensure its solutions are practical, cPAID will be validated in five pilot projects. The project includes five pilot projects, each targeting a critical domain.

In Energy, worker robots are deployed to monitor EV batteries.

In Surveillance, 5G-enabled drones are used to detect wildfires in remote forest areas. In Health, efforts focus on securing remote, AI-assisted medical devices.

In Transportation, pilots will test the robustness of object-detection systems for autonomous ships.

Finally, in Cybersecurity Awareness, experts are trained to simulate real-world challenges. Each pilot provides a demanding environment to test the framework and demonstrate its value in critical sectors.

By making AI security a built-in feature rather than an afterthought, cPAID will help organisations innovate with confidence while protecting users. More than that, cPAID aspires to support Europe’s digital autonomy and prepares the ground for compliance with regulations such as the upcoming AI Act and cybersecurity directives, while at the same time, for citizens, making AI secure means safer services, stronger data protection, and greater trust in the AI systems shaping everyday life.

More information is available here: https://cpaid.eu/