overview
- U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell met with bank CEOs to discuss cybersecurity risks related to Anthropic’s new AI model, Mythos.
- Anthropic has postponed the wide release of Mythos due to concerns over exposure of cybersecurity vulnerabilities.
- The model is designed to identify and exploit weaknesses in major operating systems and web browsers, and encourages proactive accountability to U.S. officials and industry participants.
- Access to Mythos will be restricted to about 40 technology companies, including major companies such as Microsoft and Google.
Two senior U.S. officials convened a meeting to discuss the risks and potential limitations of Anthropic’s latest artificial intelligence model, Mythos.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell held an emergency meeting with bank CEOs this week to warn them about the cybersecurity risks posed by their latest AI systems, two people familiar with the matter said.
Anthropic announced a powerful model called Mythos earlier this week, but it was not widely released due to concerns that it could expose previously unknown cybersecurity vulnerabilities.
The company said its model can identify and exploit weaknesses across “all major operating systems and all major web browsers.” Anthropic said last week that it was discussing the model’s “offensive and defensive cyber capabilities” with U.S. government representatives.
According to people familiar with the matter, the company proactively briefed U.S. officials and key industry stakeholders on Mythos’ capabilities prior to its launch.
Restricting access to Mythos
The meeting, hosted by the U.S. Treasury Department in Washington on Tuesday, was aimed at ensuring banks are aware of the risks posed by Mythos and similar models and are taking steps to protect their systems, one of the sources said.
One of the people said the invitations were sent while many of the top executives of major U.S. banks were already in Washington attending other meetings. Access to Mythos will be limited to about 40 technology companies, including Microsoft and Google, the company said.
Bloomberg News, which first reported the story on Thursday, reported that the meeting included the CEOs of Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon was unable to attend, one of the people told Reuters.
Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo and the Federal Reserve declined to comment, while the Treasury Department, Affiliated Banks and Anthropic did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
Ignacio Tezon
economist and financial analyst
Ignacio Tezon is an economist and financial analyst. He has over 7 years of experience in emerging markets. He worked as an analyst and market operator for securities companies in Argentina and Spain.
