Anthropic's Mythos model is reportedly powering NSA offensive cyber ops against China and Iran

The US National Security Agency is using Anthropic's Mythos AI model for offensive cyber operations, the Financial Times reports. Anthropic has placed about half a dozen engineers directly at the NSA to adapt the model and support its use. Mythos could be used to break into networks in China or Iran. Whether Anthropic's engineers are involved in active operations isn't clear.

The move comes while Anthropic is still in a legal fight with the Pentagon. The Department of Defense classified the company as a "supply chain risk" and tried to cut it from contracts because Anthropic wanted to restrict the use of its Claude models for mass surveillance and autonomous drones. The NSA delivery was exempt from that ban. Anthropic likely doesn't see a conflict with its own values: in its demands to the Pentagon, the company always pointed to protecting US citizens from AI threats.

Anthropic recently expanded access to Mythos to 150 organizations across 15 countries. President Trump also signed an executive order for voluntary safety testing of new AI models, which Anthropic viewed favorably.

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