{"url":"https://www.economist.com/leaders/2026/04/16/america-wakes-up-to-ais-dangerous-power?etear=nl_today_2","title":"After Mythos, end laissez-faire on AI","domain":"economist.com","imageUrl":"https://images.pexels.com/photos/8872173/pexels-photo-8872173.jpeg?auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb&h=650&w=940","pexelsSearchTerm":"AI leaders meeting","category":"Tech","language":"en","slug":"adb84d37","id":"adb84d37-e90b-4236-b26a-f34c3519ef45","description":"America must regulate AI after Anthropic's Mythos model showed unprecedented hacking power.","summary":"## TL;DR\n- America must regulate AI after Anthropic's Mythos model showed unprecedented hacking power.\n- Five AI leaders—Dario Amodei, Demis Hassabis, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Sam Altman—control the tech.\n- Laissez-faire policy fails politically and strategically against China.\n\n## The story at a glance\n*The Economist*'s leader argues that the Trump administration's hands-off approach to AI can no longer hold after Anthropic's **Mythos** model demonstrated extreme capabilities in finding software vulnerabilities. It names **Dario** (Anthropic), **Demis** (Google DeepMind), **Elon** (xAI), **Mark** (Meta), and **Sam** (OpenAI) as wielding godlike control over powerful AI. The piece is timed to Mythos's restricted release via **Project Glasswing** in early April 2026, which alarmed governments and banks.[[1]](https://www.economist.com/leaders/2026/04/16/america-wakes-up-to-ais-dangerous-power?etear=nl_today_2)[[2]](https://www.economist.com/business/2026/04/08/how-dangerous-is-mythos-anthropics-new-ai-model)\n\n## Key points\n- Mythos, Anthropic's frontier model, autonomously found thousands of high-severity bugs in every major OS and browser, including a 27-year-old undetected flaw.[[2]](https://www.economist.com/business/2026/04/08/how-dangerous-is-mythos-anthropics-new-ai-model)\n- Rather than public release, Anthropic limits access to 40+ firms like Apple, Microsoft, JPMorgan via Project Glasswing to patch vulnerabilities first.[[3]](https://www.economist.com/business/2026/04/15/why-anthropic-and-openai-are-locking-up-their-latest-models)\n- The five AI bosses command models with jaw-dropping abilities; ChatGPT alone has over **900m weekly users**.[[4]](https://www.economist.com/business/2026/04/16/could-ais-leading-men-become-as-powerful-as-ford-or-rockefeller)\n- Trump officials urged testing Mythos; banks and regulators worldwide met urgently over cyber risks.[[5]](https://thehill.com/policy/technology/5829315-anthropic-mythos-ai-cybersecurity-risks)\n- OpenAI follows suit, restricting its cyber-focused model, signaling industry shift to gated releases.[[6]](https://www.semafor.com/article/04/15/2026/openai-unveils-a-rival-to-anthropics-mythos)\n\n## Details and context\nAnthropic announced Mythos on **April 7th 2026**, pausing broad rollout due to its hacking prowess—far beyond prior models like Claude Opus. It excels at exploits, prompting panic: Fed officials warned bank CEOs, UK and Canadian regulators assessed threats, and Trump aides like VP Vance questioned AI CEOs.[[7]](https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/economy/article-anthropic-mythos-ai-defence)\n\nThe leader critiques laissez-faire as unwise amid US-China rivalry; unchecked private power risks safety and security. Mythos builds on past caution, like OpenAI's 2019 GPT-2 holdback (led by Dario Amodei then). Smaller models match some feats, but Mythos scales uniquely, raising stakes for legacy code.[[8]](https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/anthropics-claude-mythos-might-be-the-best-overall-ai-model-for-cybersecurity-but-cheaper-models-can-attain-similar-results-research-shows-cross-examination-of-the-frontier-model-raises-questions-on-uptime-and-reliability)\n\n## Key quotes\n> \"Should a handful of men be entrusted with the world’s most potent new technology?\"[[1]](https://www.economist.com/leaders/2026/04/16/america-wakes-up-to-ais-dangerous-power?etear=nl_today_2)\n\n## Why it matters\nAI's hacking leap threatens global infrastructure, from banks to browsers, amplifying cyber risks in a US-China race. Businesses face urgent patching needs; investors eye gated models boosting firms like Anthropic (valuation bids at **$800bn**); consumers risk disrupted services.[[6]](https://www.semafor.com/article/04/15/2026/openai-unveils-a-rival-to-anthropics-mythos)\nPolicymakers must balance innovation and guardrails, as private control grows unaccountable.\nWatch regulatory moves from Trump administration and rivals' responses; OpenAI's cyber model rollout could set precedents, though full impacts remain uncertain.[[9]](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/16/anthropic-claude-opus-4-7-model-mythos.html)","hashtags":["#ai","#regulation","#tech","#policy","#cybersecurity","#anthropic"],"sources":[{"url":"https://www.economist.com/leaders/2026/04/16/america-wakes-up-to-ais-dangerous-power?etear=nl_today_2","title":"Original article"},{"url":"https://www.economist.com/business/2026/04/08/how-dangerous-is-mythos-anthropics-new-ai-model","title":""},{"url":"https://www.economist.com/business/2026/04/15/why-anthropic-and-openai-are-locking-up-their-latest-models","title":""},{"url":"https://www.economist.com/business/2026/04/16/could-ais-leading-men-become-as-powerful-as-ford-or-rockefeller","title":""},{"url":"https://thehill.com/policy/technology/5829315-anthropic-mythos-ai-cybersecurity-risks","title":""},{"url":"https://www.semafor.com/article/04/15/2026/openai-unveils-a-rival-to-anthropics-mythos","title":""},{"url":"https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/economy/article-anthropic-mythos-ai-defence","title":""},{"url":"https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/anthropics-claude-mythos-might-be-the-best-overall-ai-model-for-cybersecurity-but-cheaper-models-can-attain-similar-results-research-shows-cross-examination-of-the-frontier-model-raises-questions-on-uptime-and-reliability","title":""},{"url":"https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/16/anthropic-claude-opus-4-7-model-mythos.html","title":""}],"viewCount":2,"publishedAt":"2026-04-16T18:11:18.339Z","createdAt":"2026-04-16T18:11:18.339Z","articlePublishedAt":"2026-04-16T00:00:00.000Z"}