Anthropic's Mythos AI Model Sparks Emergency Cybersecurity Meeting With Top U.S. Bank CEOs

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell convened an urgent closed-door meeting with the chief executives of America's largest banks this week, warning them about serious cybersecurity threats posed by Anthropic's newly launched artificial intelligence model, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter.

The meeting, held Tuesday at the Treasury Department in Washington, D.C., was prompted by the release of Anthropic's powerful new Mythos AI model, which the company itself acknowledged could expose previously undiscovered vulnerabilities across every major operating system and web browser in existence. Rather than pursuing a wide public launch, Anthropic opted to limit access to approximately 40 technology companies — including Microsoft and Google — while simultaneously engaging in active discussions with U.S. government officials about the model's far-reaching capabilities.

Banking regulators and financial officials used the gathering to stress the importance of proactive defense strategies, urging institutions to assess and strengthen their cybersecurity infrastructure in light of threats that next-generation AI systems like Mythos could potentially enable. The timing was strategic, as many top bank executives were already in Washington attending separate industry events.

Bloomberg News, which broke the story, reported that the CEOs of Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Goldman Sachs were among those present. JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon was notably absent, one source confirmed. Goldman Sachs and the Federal Reserve both declined to offer comment, while the Treasury Department, participating lenders, and Anthropic had not responded to media inquiries at the time of publication.

The development highlights growing concerns among policymakers and financial regulators about the dual-use nature of advanced AI — recognizing both its transformative potential and its capacity to introduce unprecedented risks to critical infrastructure and global financial systems.