US security agency is using Anthropic's Mythos despite blacklist, Axios reports


FILE PHOTO: Anthropic logo is seen in this illustration taken March 1, 2026. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File Photo

April 19 (Reuters) - The ⁠United States National Security Agency is using ⁠Anthropic's Mythos Preview AI tool despite the Pentagon ‌hitting the company with a formal supply-chain risk designation, Axios reported on Sunday.

The Mythos Preview model was being used more ​widely within the department, Axios ⁠said, citing sources. Reuters ⁠could not immediately verify the report.

Anthropic, the NSA ⁠and the ‌Department of Defense did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside regular ⁠business hours. The NSA is part of ​the Defense ‌Department.

Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump's administration and ⁠Anthropic's CEO ​discussed working together for the first time since a dispute earlier this year between the Pentagon and ⁠the AI firm over how ​that company's models should be used.

The talks came amid growing fears the artificial intelligence startup's latest model Mythos ⁠will supercharge cyberattacks.

The model is the company's "most capable yet for coding and agentic tasks," Anthropic has previously said, referring to the model's ability to ​act autonomously.

Its capabilities to code ⁠at a high level have given it a potentially ​unprecedented ability to identify cybersecurity ‌vulnerabilities and devise ways to ​exploit them, experts have said.

(Reporting by Gursimran Kaur in Bengaluru; Editing by Bill Berkrot)

Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel for breaking news alerts and key updates!

Others Also Read