FRANKFURT, May 27 (Reuters) - Euro zone banks need to invest more in cybersecurity if they are to get a grip on new AI models that can find flaws in software, the European Central Bank's outgoing Vice President Luis de Guindos said on Wednesday.
New large language models such as Anthropic's Mythos are viewed by cybersecurity experts as posing significant challenges to the banking industry and its legacy technology systems, prompting a series of warnings from regulators and policymakers around the world.
The ECB has been quizzing euro zone banks about their preparedness for weeks, including at a meeting this week, and de Guindos said the sector needed to reach deeper into its pockets to strengthen its defences against cyberattacks powered by AI.
"We have to understand much better the potential implications of these new models and to try to put in place the systems and cybersecurity patches that can address that situation," de Guindos, whose term runs out at the end of the month, told reporters.
"And (we have) to try to start to enhance the awareness of the financial institutions, of the banks, about the need of additional cybersecurity investment, because it's going to be something that is going to be quite structural in the near future."
He said the meeting with euro zone lenders on Tuesday featured a presentation by a U.S. bank which, unlike its counterparts on this side of the Atlantic, has had access to Mythos.
"The main message to everyone is cyber is becoming more and more important," de Guindos said. "We have to invest more. And investment has to be pervasive. It's not only for the large banks. It's as well for the small banks."
(Reporting by Francesco Canepa; Editing by Toby Chopra and Gus Trompiz)
