WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� White House chief of staff Susie Wiles on Friday sounded out Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei about the artificial intelligence company’s new Mythos model, which has attracted attention from the federal government for how it could transform national security and the economy.
A White House official, who requested anonymity to discuss the meeting ahead of time, said the administration is engaging with advanced AI labs about their models and the security of software. The official stressed that any new technology that might be used by the federal government would require a technical period for evaluation.
The White House said afterward that the meeting was productive and constructive, as opportunities for collaboration were discussed as well as the goal of balancing innovation and safety.
Anthropic said in a statement that Amodei’s meeting included senior administration officials and explored how the San Francisco-based company and the 鈥淯.S. government can work together on key shared priorities such as cybersecurity, America鈥檚 lead in the AI race, and AI safety.鈥� The company said it was 鈥渓ooking forward to continuing these discussions.鈥�
The meeting came after tensions had run hot between the Trump administration and the safety-conscious Anthropic, which has on the development of AI to minimize any potential risks and maximize its economic and national security benefits for the U.S.
President Donald Trump over the company鈥檚 contract dispute with the Pentagon, with Trump saying in a February social media post that the administration 鈥渨ill not do business with them again!鈥� When Trump was asked Friday while in Arizona if Anthropic had a meeting at the White House, the president said he had 鈥漬o idea.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also sought to declare Anthropic a supply chain risk, an unprecedented move against a U.S. company that Anthropic has challenged in two federal courts. The company said it wanted assurance the Pentagon would not use its technology in and the surveillance of Americans. Hegseth said the company must allow for any uses the Pentagon deemed lawful.
U.S. District Judge Rita Lin that blocked the enforcement of Trump鈥檚 social media directive ordering all federal agencies to stop using Anthropic products.
Anthropic has said the new Mythos model it announced on April 7 is so 鈥渟trikingly capable鈥� that it is limiting its use to select customers because of its ability to surpass human cybersecurity experts in finding and exploiting computer vulnerabilities.
And while some industry experts have questioned whether Anthropic’s claims of too-powerful AI technology were a marketing ploy, even some of the company’s sharpest critics have suggested that Mythos might represent a further advancement in AI.
One influential Anthropic critic, David Sacks, who was the White House’s AI and crypto czar, said people should 鈥渢ake this seriously.鈥�
鈥淎nytime Anthropic is scaring people, you have to ask, 鈥業s this a tactic? Is this part of their Chicken Little routine? Or is it real?鈥欌�� Sacks said on the 鈥淎ll-In鈥� podcast he co-hosts with other tech investors. 鈥淲ith cyber, I actually would give them credit in this case and say this is more on the real side.鈥�
Sacks said: 鈥淚t just makes sense that as the coding models become more and more capable, they are more capable at finding bugs. That means they鈥檙e more capable at finding vulnerabilities. That means they鈥檙e more capable at stringing together multiple vulnerabilities and creating an exploit.鈥�
The model’s potential benefits, as well as its risks, have also attracted attention outside the U.S.
The United Kingdom’s AI Security Institute said it evaluated the new model and found it a 鈥渟tep up鈥� over previous models, which were already rapidly improving.
鈥淢ythos Preview can exploit systems with weak security posture, and it is likely that more models with these capabilities will be developed,鈥� the institute said in a report.
Anthropic has also been in talks with the European Union about its AI models, including advanced models that haven鈥檛 yet been released in Europe, European Commission spokesman Thomas Regnier said Friday.
Axios first reported the scheduled meeting between Wiles and Amodei.
When it announced Mythos, Anthropic said it was also forming an initiative called Project Glasswing, bringing together tech giants such as Amazon, Apple, Google and Microsoft, along with other companies like JPMorgan Chase, in hopes of securing the world鈥檚 critical software from 鈥渟evere鈥� fallout that the new model could pose to public safety, national security and the economy.
鈥淲e鈥檙e releasing it to a subset of some of the world鈥檚 most important companies and organizations so they can use this to find vulnerabilities,鈥� said the Anthropic co-founder and policy chief, Jack Clark, at this week鈥檚 Semafor World Economy conference.
Clark added that Mythos, while ahead of the curve, is not a 鈥渟pecial model.鈥�
鈥淭here will be other systems just like this in a few months from other companies, and in a year to a year-and-a-half later, there will be open-weight models from China that have these capabilities,鈥� he said. So the world is going to have to get ready for more powerful systems that are going to exist within it.鈥� ___
O’Brien reported from Providence, R.I. AP business reporter Kelvin Chan contributed to this report from London.
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