By Balazs Koranyi
FRANKFURT, April 21 (Reuters) – German central bank chief Joachim Nagel called on Tuesday for all institutions to have access to Anthropic’s artificial intelligence model Mythos to keep the playing field even and to avoid it being misused.
The Bundesbank head said banking authorities must act to prevent the misuse of Anthropic’s most advanced AI model to date, as it opens the door to new and sophisticated cyber risks.
“Mythos is an AI model that appears capable of quickly identifying and exploiting security vulnerabilities in financial institutions’ software,” Nagel said in a speech.
Mythos has sparked fears across the banking industry that it could be misused to exploit legacy IT system vulnerabilities.
“This AI model seems to be a double-edged sword, since it could be used not only to improve digital security systems, but also to leverage their vulnerabilities for malicious purposes,” Nagel said at an event in Rome.
The capabilities of Mythos to code at a high level have given it a potentially unprecedented ability to identify cybersecurity vulnerabilities, experts say, prompting greater scrutiny from regulators globally.
Anthropic has rolled out a preview of Mythos to a select number of companies and some organisations that build or maintain critical software infrastructure, prompting calls for wider access to the technology.
“All relevant institutions should have access to such technology to avoid competitive distortions,” Nagel said.
Its advanced coding and autonomous capabilities could dramatically accelerate sophisticated cyberattacks, particularly in sectors such as banking that rely on complex, interconnected and often decades-old technology systems, experts have said.
While debuting Mythos, Anthropic said the model’s ability to find software flaws at scale could, if misused, pose serious risks to economies, public safety and national security.
In broader comments on AI, Nagel challenged the notion it could help lower inflation, the core focus of central banks.
He said AI increases investment demand, could raise incomes and push up electricity prices, all of which may increase inflationary pressures.
Moreover, the use of algorithms may facilitate the setting of prices above competitive levels, Nagel warned.
“There is evidence that AI algorithms are able to consistently learn to charge excessive prices, without communicating with one another,” he said.
“From a central banking perspective, this uncertainty calls for particular vigilance,” Nagel added.
(Reporting by Balazs Koranyi, Editing by Louise Heavens and Alexander Smith)
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