The heat descends on Claude Mythos. After the chatter around Anthropic’s ‘most dangerously powerful’ AI model reached the tables of world governments and infrastructure companies, peers in the AI industry are now sharing their take on Mythos and all the hype surrounding it. Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, has publicly criticised Mythos, accusing Anthropic of using “fear-based marketing” to exaggerate its capabilities.
Altman even went on to say that the fear surrounding the AI model has also been used to justify limiting access to a small group of elite customers.
Anthropic unveiled Mythos earlier this month but refrained from releasing it publicly. The company described it as an exceptionally powerful model capable of advanced code reasoning, vulnerability discovery, and exploit development. The company restricted its initial preview release to a select number of enterprise customers, arguing that wider availability could allow cybercriminals to weaponise the technology for creating sophisticated zero-day attacks.
Altman hits out at Anthropic
Speaking on the Core Memory podcast, Altman suggested that Anthropic’s restrictive approach is comparable to the AI industry’s long-standing desire to keep powerful technology in the hands of a small, exclusive group.
“There are people in the world who, for a long time, have wanted to keep AI in the hands of a smaller group of people. You can justify that in a lot of different ways,” said Altman.
He then followed it up with a sharp analogy, “It is clearly incredible marketing to say, ‘We have built a bomb, we are about to drop it on your head. We will sell you a bomb shelter for $100 million.’”
Altman’s comments once again highlight the intensifying rivalry between OpenAI and Anthropic, involving Altman and Dario Amodei. Critics have questioned whether Anthropic’s caution around Mythos is driven purely by safety concerns or does it serve as effective marketing to portray the model as extraordinarily dangerous and valuable.
Altman himself has used scre tactics to sell AI
Although Anthropic hasn’t commented on Altman’s take yet, the trend remains common across the industry, employing scare tactics to sell new AI products. In fact, Altman himself has frequently used strong warnings about existential risks and catastrophic outcomes to highlight the power of advanced AI. The same tactics are often used to encourage AI adoption among job seekers, suggesting that their technology is necessary to circumvent the job losses, which are rampant in the AI industry.
With the recent reports claiming that an unauthorised group has already gained access to Mythos, it further complicates the case against Anthropic, with many debating whether Anthropic truly had things under control.