Bank Regulators Issue Warning Over Risk of Mythos AI Model

Regulators Sound Alarm on Cyber Risks from Powerful AI Model

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell called an urgent meeting with Wall Street leaders on Tuesday to discuss the potential risks posed by the latest artificial intelligence model from Anthropic PBC, known as Mythos. The meeting aimed to ensure that banks are aware of the possible future risks raised by Mythos and similar models, and are taking precautions to defend their systems.

The meeting, which was arranged on short notice, is another sign that regulators consider the possibility of a new breed of cyber attacks as one of the biggest risks facing the financial industry. Systemically important banks, such as Citigroup Inc., Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co., and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., were summoned to the meeting. These banks are classified as systemically important by top regulators, meaning their stability is a priority for the global financial system.

The Fed's participation in the meeting signaled that the concern was one of systemic risk, and not tied to the Trump administration's previous clashes with Anthropic. The Fed is deeply familiar with banking operations, with its network of examiners. Powell's involvement in the meeting highlighted the seriousness of the issue.

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Anthropic's Mythos is a more powerful system that can identify and exploit vulnerabilities in every major operating system and web browser when directed by a user to do so. Regulators' caution about the power of the model in hackers' hands echoes Anthropic's own prudence. Anthropic has limited the release of Mythos to just a few major technology and finance firms at first, as part of "Project Glasswing," which will work to secure the most important systems before other similar AI models become available.

Anthropic has said that it has been in discussions prior to its recent release with US officials about Mythos and its "offensive and defensive cyber capabilities." The company has also pointed to several vulnerabilities that the AI system was capable of identifying and potentially exploiting during testing. None of the examples related specifically to financial institutions, but in one instance, the firm's security team said it was able to compromise a web browser so that a website set up by a hacker could read data from another website "e.g., the victim's bank."

In releasing Mythos to a very limited set of companies, Anthropic highlighted the potential risks associated with the model. The company has separately been battling the Trump administration in court, after the Pentagon labeled it as a supply-chain risk. A federal appeals court declined, at least for now, Anthropic's request that it put a pause to the Pentagon's designation.

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Chief executive officers summoned to the meeting with the Fed and Treasury include Jane Fraser of Citigroup Inc., Ted Pick of Morgan Stanley, Brian Moynihan of Bank of America Corp., Charlie Scharf of Wells Fargo & Co., and David Solomon of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon was unable to attend.