“Barclays CEO Warns Mythos Is a ‘Serious Threat’ to Banks, Flags Risk in New Models”

Barclays CEO CS Venkatakrishnan has warned that Anthropic’s frontier AI model “Mythos” could pose a serious threat to the global banking system, adding that future versions may emerge rapidly and prove even more challenging to contain.

Speaking at a G30 consultancy group meeting on the sidelines of the IMF Spring Meetings, he said Mythos’ advanced coding abilities could potentially be used to uncover cybersecurity weaknesses and exploit them, raising concerns for financial institutions worldwide.

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

He cautioned that the risk is not limited to a single model. “There will be a Mythos 2 and a Mythos 3, and they’ll come up with probably distressing frequency,” he added, pointing to the fast pace of AI development. According to him, such technological advances could trigger an ongoing cybersecurity “arms race”, pushing banks to continuously upgrade their defenses. He noted that large, legacy-heavy institutions may face particular difficulties in adapting to these evolving threats.

“We have to understand its capabilities and we have to understand how to safeguard against it,” he said. His remarks come as regulators and supervisors increasingly examine the cybersecurity risks posed by advanced AI systems, with some organisations reportedly assessing Mythos to determine its potential impact on the banking sector.