NSA Deploys Anthropic Engineers to Ready Mythos AI
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- Anthropic placed about six engineers at the NSA to help the agency use its cybersecurity AI model Mythos.
- NSA tasked the engineers with assisting on using Mythos for certain applications, but it is unclear whether the engineers or the model are currently being used in hacking operations.
- NSA’s mandate includes intelligence collection via wiretaps, undersea cables, corporate partnerships, and conducting offensive cyberattacks on foreign adversaries.
- Axios reported in April that the NSA was using Mythos despite a federal ban on Anthropic’s technology, a ban that followed a Department of Defense decision to label Anthropic a “supply‑chain risk.”
- Anthropic says it limited access to Mythos because its cybersecurity capabilities could be exploited to discover security flaws and carry out hacks.
Why it matters: The NSA gains advanced AI assistance for cyber operations, while Anthropic faces scrutiny over a supply‑chain risk label and restricted model access, potentially affecting its commercial rollout and government collaborations.
