“Mythos Poses ‘Serious Threat’ to Banks, New Models May Be ‘Distressing’: Barclays CEO”

Barclays CEO CS Venkatakrishnan has warned that Anthropic’s frontier AI model “Mythos” could pose a serious threat to the global banking system.

While cautioning that even more powerful versions of such models may emerge in quick succession. Speaking at a meeting of the G30 consultancy group on the sidelines of the IMF Spring Meetings, he said Mythos’ advanced coding capabilities could enable it to identify cybersecurity vulnerabilities and potentially be misused to exploit them, raising concerns about risks to financial institutions.

“On Mythos, look, it’s a serious issue,” Venkatakrishnan said.

He added that the challenge may not be limited to a single model. “But here’s the thing: there will be a Mythos 2 and a Mythos 3, and they’ll come up with probably distressing frequency,” he noted, highlighting the rapid pace of AI development.

According to him, such advances could accelerate an “arms race” in cybersecurity, forcing banks to continuously upgrade their defenses. He also pointed out that older and larger financial institutions, which often rely on legacy systems, may face greater challenges in adapting.

“We have to understand its capabilities and we have to understand how to safeguard against it,” he said.

The remarks come as regulators and financial supervisors increasingly assess the cybersecurity implications of advanced AI models, with some organisations reportedly reviewing Mythos to better understand its potential risks to the banking sector.