NSA Uses Anthropic's Mythos AI Model Despite Ongoing Pentagon Ban and Legal Battle

The NSA is reportedly using Anthropic's new model Mythos

Despite the months-long feud between Anthropic and the Pentagon, the National Security Agency is using the AI company's new Mythos Preview, according to Axios, which spoke to two sources with knowledge of the matter. Anthropic announced Mythos Preview at the beginning of April, describing it as a general-purpose language model that is "strikingly capable at computer security tasks." But back in February, Trump ordered all government agencies to stop using Anthropic's services after the company refused to budge on certain safeguards for military uses during contract talks. The news comes days after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei met with White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and other officials, reportedly to discuss Mythos. The White House later said the meeting on Friday was "productive and constructive," though President Trump said he had "no idea" about it when asked by reporters, Reuters reports. According to Axios' sources, the NSA is one of the roughly 40 organizations Anthropic gave access to Mythos Preview, and one said it's "being used more widely within the department" too. The company is still embroiled in a legal battle with the US government. Anthropic filed lawsuits against the Department of Defense in two courts in March after the Trump administration labeled it a "supply chain risk," and the Pentagon filed a response shortly after. While Anthropic was granted a preliminary injunction by one court to temporarily block this designation, federal judges in the other denied its motion to lift the label.

Scoop: NSA using Anthropic's Mythos despite blacklist

Why it matters: The government's cybersecurity needs appear to be outweighing the Pentagon's feud with Anthropic * The department moved in February to cut off Anthropic and force its vendors to follow suit. That case is ongoing. * The military is now broadening its use of Anthropic's tools while simultaneously arguing in court that using those tools threatens U.S. national security. Breaking it down: Two sources said the NSA was using Mythos, while one said the model was also being used more widely within the department. * It's unclear how the NSA is currently using Mythos, but other organizations with access to the model are using it predominantly to scan their own environments for exploitable security vulnerabilities. * Anthropic restricted access to Mythos to around 40 organizations, contending that its offensive cyber capabilities were too dangerous to allow for a wider release. * Anthropic only announced 12 of those organizations. One source said the NSA was among the unnamed agencies with access. * The NSA's counterparts in the U.K. have said they have access to the model through the country's AI Security Institute. Driving the news: Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei met White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Friday to discuss the use of Mythos within government and Anthropic's wider plans and security practices. * Sources said next steps after the meeting were expected to focus on how departments other than the Pentagon engage with the model. Both sides described the meeting as productive. * Anthropic and the Pentagon declined to comment. The NSA and Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not respond to requests for comment. Zoom out: The breakdown between the Pentagon and Anthropic came during tense contract renegotiations earlier this year.

US security agency is using Anthropic's Mythos despite blacklist, Axios reports

April 19 (Reuters) - The United States National Security Agency is using Anthropic's Mythos Preview AI tool despite the Pentagon hitting the company with a formal supply-chain risk designation, Axios reported on Sunday. The Mythos Preview model was being used more widely within the department, Axios said, citing sources. Reuters could not immediately verify the report. Anthropic, the NSA and the Department of Defense did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside regular business hours. The NSA is part of the Defense Department. Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump's administration and Anthropic's CEO discussed working together for the first time since a dispute earlier this year between the Pentagon and the AI firm over how that company's models should be used. The talks came amid growing fears the artificial intelligence startup's latest model Mythos will supercharge cyberattacks. The model is the company's "most capable yet for coding and agentic tasks," Anthropic has previously said, referring to the model's ability to act autonomously. Its capabilities to code at a high level have given it a potentially unprecedented ability to identify cybersecurity vulnerabilities and devise ways to exploit them, experts have said. (Reporting by Gursimran Kaur in Bengaluru; Editing by Bill Berkrot)