Key Points:
- European Central Bank supervisors plan to question banks about the cybersecurity risks posed by the new Mythos AI model.
- The advanced artificial intelligence model developed by Anthropic can easily identify and exploit massive software vulnerabilities.
- The United States government held an urgent meeting with bank CEOs to warn them about the potential for supercharged cyberattacks.
- British security officials warned that the new technology is substantially more capable of launching cyber offensives than older models.
European Central Bank supervisors are preparing to question the financial industry over a terrifying new technological threat. According to a source familiar with the situation, regulators plan to ask bankers exactly how they intend to defend against Anthropic’s new artificial intelligence model. Cybersecurity experts warn that this advanced new software could easily supercharge cyberattacks and devastate the global banking industry.
The new model, named Mythos, presents a massive challenge to legacy banking technology systems. The software is so powerful that it set off loud alarm bells among regulators in Britain, Europe, and the United States. To address the threat, European Central Bank supervisors are currently gathering massive amounts of information about the model. They plan to use this data to question the banks they watch over, testing their actual preparedness for this new breed of cyber risk.
The source spoke to Reuters on the condition of anonymity because they do not have authorization to comment publicly on internal regulatory matters. The source noted that the European approach will look different than the aggressive American response. European regulators plan to bring up the issue through regular, ongoing dialogue with bank staff. As of Wednesday, the European Central Bank had not scheduled any ad-hoc emergency meetings with top bank executives. An official spokesperson for the bank completely declined to comment on the matter.
Cybersecurity experts explained exactly why Mythos scares them so much. The software has an incredible ability to write high-level computer code. This deep coding knowledge gives the artificial intelligence an unprecedented ability to hunt down hidden cybersecurity vulnerabilities inside complex banking networks. Once it finds a weakness, the software can quickly devise creative ways to exploit the flaw and break into the system.
Because the software is incredibly dangerous, Anthropic decided to lock it down. The tech company publicly stated that the current iteration, named Claude Mythos Preview, will not be made generally available. Instead, the company launched a private initiative called Project Glasswing. Anthropic invited several major technology companies, specialized cybersecurity vendors, and financial giants like JPMorgan Chase to evaluate the model privately. The goal is to let these massive organizations test the software so they can build defenses against it before hackers get their hands on similar technology.
The United States government is taking the threat incredibly seriously. Last week, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell convened an urgent, closed-door meeting with the chief executives of major American banks. The government officials explicitly warned the bank leaders about the severe risks posed by the new artificial intelligence. On Wednesday, President Donald Trump publicly acknowledged the severe digital threat and fully backed the creation of new government safeguards to protect the American banking system.
The panic extends across the Atlantic to Britain as well. British Technology Secretary Liz Kendall and Security Minister Dan Jarvis released a stark public warning to businesses on Wednesday. The officials confirmed that their government’s AI Security Institute tested the Mythos model. They discovered that the new software was substantially more capable at launching cyber offensives than any other model the government had previously tested.
The British officials published an open letter to the business community to explain the exact nature of the threat. They warned that a brand new generation of artificial intelligence models can now perform complex work that previously required rare, highly paid human expertise. These models can quickly identify subtle weaknesses in corporate software and write the exact code needed to exploit them. Worst of all, the machines perform these attacks at a speed and scale that would have been completely impossible even a single year ago.
Global financial leaders know they must act fast to prevent a disaster. Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey spoke publicly this week, urging central banks and financial regulators worldwide to understand the severe implications of this new technology quickly. The European Central Bank clearly got the message, having already listed technology risk as one of its top supervisory priorities for the 2026 to 2028 oversight period. As the technology evolves, banks will have to spend billions of dollars to keep their digital vaults secure from artificial intelligence.
