San Francisco (United States) (AFP) – The White House is opposing Anthropic’s plans to expand access to its new artificial intelligence model Mythos to 120 companies, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. President Donald Trump’s administration and Anthropic had only recently started to mend ties following a dispute over the AI firm’s refusal to grant the military unconditional use of its software.
Anthropic has withheld the powerful Mythos model from public release, citing potential cybersecurity risks and concerns it could be exploited by hackers. Instead, it shared a version with selected companies including Apple, Microsoft, and Nvidia under a project called “Glasswing” to help improve their security infrastructure. The AI startup proposed expanding access to the model to some 70 additional companies, which would bring the total number of organizations with access to around 120, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
The White House, which has been at loggerheads with Anthropic for months, opposed the expansion over security concerns, according to the Journal. Authorities were also reportedly worried that Anthropic does not have sufficient computing power to share the technology with the additional companies without hindering the government’s ability to use it. In February, Trump instructed the US government to “immediately cease” using Anthropic’s technology after Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth designated Anthropic a national security supply chain risk. The company behind the Claude chatbot is now fighting these measures in court.
Tensions eased after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei met with US officials at the White House this month for discussions, which the company described as “productive.” Earlier this week, Anthropic said it was investigating unauthorized access to Mythos after Bloomberg News reported that a small group of users in a private online forum had gained access. The California-based developer says Mythos can spot undiscovered security loopholes that have existed for decades in systems tested by both human experts and automated tools.
However, the company has also been accused of overhyping the powers of a technology that is its stock in trade, and the subject of neck-and-neck competition with rival OpenAI.
© 2024 AFP
