IMF chief concerned about cybersecurity risks posed by Anthropic’s AI model Mythos: “Time is not our friend”

Washington — The head of the International Monetary Fund said she is concerned about a powerful new AI model from Anthropic that poses major cybersecurity risks, warning “time is not our friend on this one.” 

Kristalina Georgieva, the IMF’s managing director, said in an interview set to air Sunday on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that the world does not have the ability “to protect the international monetary system against massive cyber risks.” 

“The risks have been growing exponentially,” Georgieva said. “Yes, we are concerned. We are very keen to see more attention to the guardrails that are necessary to protect financial stability in the world of AI.” 

On Tuesday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent held an urgent meeting with Wall Street leaders to discuss the cybersecurity risks posed by Anthropic’s Claude Mythos Preview, sources told CBS News. 

A Treasury Department spokesman said in a statement that “additional coordination meetings by Treasury are planned across a number of regulators and institutions on an ongoing basis to address these developments, as well as a host of other issues.” 

In a blog post earlier this week, Anthropic said the model has demonstrated “a leap” in the ability to spot cybersecurity vulnerabilities — some of them decades old — and exploit them. Anthropic is only releasing the model to select partners so they can use it to harden their systems.

“Mythos Preview has already found thousands of high-severity vulnerabilities, including some in every major operating system and web browser. Given the rate of AI progress, it will not be long before such capabilities proliferate, potentially beyond actors who are committed to deploying them safely. The fallout — for economies, public safety, and national security — could be severe,” the company said.

Georgieva said key financial institutions, including central banks, need to “work together” and be “very attentive” in managing the risks of cyberattacks. 

“It is an issue that easily can present itself in other parts of the world, and that is why we need people to cooperate,” she said.

Watch more of the interview on Sunday on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”