Germany’s banks are well-prepared for heightened cyber risks as Anthropic’s new artificial intelligence model sparks global fears of a new era for computer hacks, said Deutsche Bank AG Chief Executive Officer Christian Sewing.
"It’s certainly not something that leads to panic or alarm bells ringing on our side,” Sewing said on Monday in his capacity as head of the Association of German Banks. "But it certainly is something we have to consider in our daily risk management.”
The lobby has established a working group to provide information and guidance, notably to smaller banks to discuss potential defence scenarios, he told reporters.
Regulators, central bankers and corporate executives are seeking to gain more insight on Mythos, which hasn’t been widely released, yet is said to have the potential to exploit digital vulnerabilities. European banks have done "a tremendous amount of work” in recent years to improve their cyber defences and are talking to regulators, Sewing said.
Anthropic has limited the release of Mythos to a few dozen firms initially. Those companies, which include JPMorgan Chase & Co, Amazon.com Inc and Apple Inc, are part of what’s being called "Project Glasswing,” which will work to secure the most important systems before other similar AI models become available.
Financial firms in other parts of the world have been pushing Anthropic to give them early access to Mythos to test it and detect vulnerabilities on their own systems.
"Naturally everyone is trying to get access, but I think it’s entirely appropriate that this access remains restricted for the time being,” Sewing said. "This ensures that we do not inadvertently slide into a situation of over-generalisation, which could potentially exacerbate the issue even further.” – Bloomberg
