Goldman Sachs is taking an early look at one of the world’s most powerful AI models and working quickly to prevent the risks it may pose.
CEO David Solomon said the bank was working closely with Anthropic to assess cybersecurity threats related to its latest systems, after the development caused alarm across the industry. Solomon said the bank is “well aware” of its capabilities and is working with Anthropic and its own security vendors to protect against potential threats.
Anthropic announced last week that it would not release a new model, the Mythos, due to cybersecurity concerns. The company warned that the system was sophisticated and could exploit key operating system vulnerabilities even for non-experts. Instead, it said it would offer a limited preview to 11 organizations as part of a cybersecurity group called “Project Glasswing.”
“Cybersecurity has long been core to our business,” Solomon said during the bank’s first-quarter earnings call. “And we’ve been putting tremendous resources into it for a very long time.”
The model’s debut prompted talks last week between Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and leaders of major U.S. banks. Solomon said such discussions are not new, noting that banks have been consulting with the Treasury Department on cybersecurity risks for years.
“Together with the U.S. government and model publishers, we are very focused on supplementing cyber and infrastructure resiliency,” Solomon said. “And this is part of the continuing capabilities that we have invested in and are accelerating our investment in.”
Despite the risks, Solomon was bullish on the impact AI will have on Goldman’s business areas in the medium to long term.
“Any time technology accelerates, there will always be challenges and there will be risk issues,” he told an analyst later in the conference call. “But the power of technology, the ability to use it within the enterprise to reshape processes, create efficiencies and create more ability to invest in growth — you won’t find a CEO who doesn’t talk about that,” he said.