Global Financial Watchdog to Share Insights on Anthropic’s Mythos

The Financial Stability Board is gathering information from members about potential risks posed by Anthropic’s Mythos model as it look to share such insights more broadly among its network of regulators and central bankers to help them judge the risks of autonomous cyber attacks.

Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem, who heads the FSB’s key committee for monitoring risks, said officials have “work to do” as they assess the severity of the risks posed by the artificial intelligence model relative to other budding dangers like private credit and the global energy crisis.

The topic has featured heavily in conversations at this week’s International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings. It was discussed at a meeting of FSB representatives on Wednesday amid concerns that financial systems beyond the US are disadvantaged because they have little access to the model created by San Francisco-based Anthropic.

“The FSB is going to share the information that’s available so that everybody is working with the right information,” Macklem said, adding that the issue was still “developing.”

“New AI capabilities increase the speed at which vulnerabilities could be found and exploited,” said Macklem. “That puts a real premium on having a really mature effective cyber program. There is no immediate cyber attack, there is no immediate crisis, but AI is changing the landscape and we got to get on top of that.”

The FSB is also closely monitoring risks from private credit and leveraged bets on sovereign bond markets.

“Private credit is not suitable for everybody,” Macklem added, pointing to the potential need for additional “guardrails” to ensure retail investors properly understand constraints on accessing their cash.

Macklem said an upcoming FSB report on private credit vulnerabilities would be an “important step” though it will not be a magic bullet for dealing with a sector that officials judge too small to imperil financial stability, despite rising threats flagged by Bank of England Governor and FSB chair Andrew Bailey this week.

“I think it’s a bit early to start to start to get super prescriptive about solutions,” Macklem said. “It’s not going to answer all the questions.”

The FSB prioritized leveraged bets on sovereign bond markets in its first targeted attempt to deliver better data on the non-banking world, and has promised an update on that work by the middle of the year.

Top photo: The Anthropic website on a laptop arranged in New York, US, on Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2023. Investor enthusiasm for AI-related startups has increased significantly in the past year, as more of the technology has come to market, showcasing its potential. Photographer: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg.