Anthropic's Claude Mythos AI fears trigger $2 trillion wipeout in IT stocks; JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon warns 'AI will likely worsen...'

Anthropic's latest AI model, Claude Mythos Preview, has become a major source of concern for Wall Street and US policymakers, triggering a massive $2 trillion selloff in enterprise software stocks and prompting an emergency meeting at the US Treasury, according to TOI.

The model, which has demonstrated an extraordinary ability to identify and exploit software vulnerabilities, has raised fears about its potential impact on cybersecurity and the broader technology sector.

According to TOI, on Tuesday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell convened an urgent meeting with CEOs from major banks, including Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon was invited but could not attend.

The discussion focused on the cybersecurity risks posed by Anthropic's unreleased AI model, Claude Mythos Preview, rather than traditional topics like interest rates or tariffs.

According to Anthropic, Claude Mythos Preview is a general-purpose frontier model that has shown remarkable capabilities in finding and exploiting software vulnerabilities. It has already identified thousands of high-severity flaws, including zero-days in every major operating system and web browser.

Examples include a 27-year-old vulnerability in OpenBSD and a 16-year-old flaw in FFmpeg that had evaded detection in five million automated tests.

In response to these capabilities, Anthropic launched Project Glasswing, a collaborative initiative with major tech companies including Amazon Web Services, Apple, Broadcom, Cisco, CrowdStrike, Google, JPMorganChase, the Linux Foundation, Microsoft, NVIDIA, and Palo Alto Networks.

The project aims to use Claude Mythos Preview defensively to scan and secure critical software infrastructure. Anthropic is committing up to $100 million in usage credits and $4 million in donations to open-source security organisations.

Earlier releases from Anthropic, such as Claude Opus and agent-building tools, contributed to a $2 trillion selloff in enterprise software stocks, often referred to as the "SaaSpocalypse." Investors fear that AI agents could replace human workers, reducing demand for traditional software subscriptions.

The leak of details about Claude Mythos Preview in late March further pressured cybersecurity stocks, as markets grappled with the potential for AI to undermine existing security tools.

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, in his annual shareholder letter, highlighted cybersecurity as one of the bank's biggest risks, noting that AI will likely make threats worse and require significant defensive investments.

The episode highlights the dual-use nature of advanced AI models -- powerful tools that can both strengthen and threaten cybersecurity. While Project Glasswing aims to give defenders an advantage, the rapid advancement of such capabilities has raised questions about preparedness across industries and governments.

Anthropic has emphasised that Claude Mythos Preview is not being released to the public and access is strictly controlled for defensive purposes.

(With TOI inputs)