Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to generate your passwords is a bad idea. It’s likely to give that password to a criminal who can then use it in a dictionary attack — which is when an attacker runs through a prepared list of likely passwords (words, phrases, patterns) with automated tools until one of them works, instead of trying every possible combination.
AI cybersecurity firm Irregular tested ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini and found that the passwords they generate are “highly predictable,” and not truly random. When they tested Claude, 50 prompts produced just 23 unique passwords. One string appeared 10 times, while many others shared the same structure.
This could turn out to be a problem.
Traditionally, attackers build or download wordlists made of common passwords, real‑world leaks, and patterned variants (words plus numbers and symbols) to use in dictionary attacks. It requires almost no effort to add a thousand or so passwords commonly provided by AI chatbots.
AI chatbots are trained to provide answers based on what they’ve learned. They are good at predicting what comes next based on what they already have, not at inventing something completely new.
As the researchers put it:
“LLMs work by predicting the most likely next token, which is the exact opposite of what secure password generation requires: uniform, unpredictable randomness.”
In the past, we explained why computers are not very good at randomness in the first place. Password managers get around this fact by using dedicated cryptographic random number generators that mix in real‑world entropy, instead of the pattern‑based text generation you see with LLMs.
In other words, a good password manager doesn’t “invent” your password the way an AI does. It asks the operating system for cryptographic random bits and turns those directly into characters, so there’s no hidden pattern for attackers to learn.
A website or platform where you submit such passwords may tell you they’re strong, but the same basic reasoning as to why you shouldn’t reuse passwords applies. What use is a strong password if cybercriminals already have it?
As always, we prefer passkeys over passwords, but we realize this isn’t always an option. If you have to use a password, don’t let an AI make one up for you. It’s just not safe. And if you already did, consider changing it and add multi-factor authentication (2FA) to make the account more secure.
We don’t just report on privacy — we offer you the option to use it.
Privacy risks should never spread beyond a headline. Keep your online privacy yours by using Malwarebytes Privacy VPN.
Read more on Security Boulevard
