Scoop: NSA using Anthropic's Mythos despite blacklist
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Dario Amodei. Photo: Samyukta Lakshmi/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The National Security Agency is using Anthropic's most powerful model yet, Mythos Preview, despite top officials at the Department of Defense — which oversees the NSA — insisting the company is a "supply chain risk," two sources tell Axios.
Why it matters: The government's cybersecurity needs appear to be outweighing the Pentagon's feud with Anthropic
- The department moved in February to cut off Anthropic and force its vendors to follow suit. That case is ongoing.
- The military is now broadening its use of Anthropic's tools while simultaneously arguing in court that using those tools threatens U.S. national security.
Breaking it down: Two sources said the NSA was using Mythos, while one said the model was also being used more widely within the department.
- It's unclear how the NSA is currently using Mythos, but other organizations with access to the model are using it predominantly to scan their own environments for exploitable security vulnerabilities.
- Anthropic restricted access to Mythos to around 40 organizations, contending that its offensive cyber capabilities were too dangerous to allow for a wider release.
- Anthropic only announced 12 of those organizations. One source said the NSA was among the unnamed agencies with access.
- The NSA's counterparts in the U.K. have said they have access to the model through the country's AI Security Institute.
Driving the news: Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei met White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Friday to discuss the use of Mythos within government and Anthropic's wider plans and security practices.
- Sources said next steps after the meeting were expected to focus on how departments other than the Pentagon engage with the model. Both sides described the meeting as productive.
- Anthropic and the Pentagon declined to comment. The NSA and Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not respond to requests for comment.
Zoom out: The breakdown between the Pentagon and Anthropic came during tense contract renegotiations earlier this year.
- The department demanded Anthropic make its Claude model available for "all lawful purposes," while the company insisted on walling off mass domestic surveillance and the development of autonomous weapons.
- Some Defense officials still insist Anthropic's posture proved it can't be trusted to be there when the military needs it. Anthropic denies that.
- Others in the administration just want this fight to go away so they can utilize the cutting edge tools Anthropic is building.
