Lagarde, Worried About AI, Lauds Anthropic's Approach on Mythos

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde praised Anthropic PBC for limiting the release of its latest artificial intelligence model, and called for greater safeguards on the technology.

In an interview with Bloomberg Television in Washington on Tuesday, she highlighted the effects of AI and how it's controlled as a "big issue."

"The impact of it can be so disruptive for good or for bad," Lagarde told Francine Lacqua. "The development we've seen with Anthropic and Mythos is a good example of a responsible company that is suddenly thinking, ah, that could be really good -- but if it falls in the wrong hands, it could be really bad. We need to do something about it."

ECB President Christine Lagarde.

The release of Anthropic's Mythos model is being limited to a handful of major technology firms including Amazon.com Inc. and Apple Inc. The company warned last week that the new system could power cyberattacks if software makers don't first test it against their own defenses.

In that vein, Lagarde called for the development of wider guardrails on such technology.

"Everybody is keen to have a framework within which to operate," she said. "I don't think there is a governance framework that is there to actually mind those things. We need to work on that."

The ECB chief also touched on concerns she's previously articulated about the impact of AI on labor markets and economies.

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"What impact will it have not just on productivity, where R star will go?" Lagarde said. "What impact will it have on our societies? How many people will be unemployed, how many people will require retraining, re-skilling, who will pay for that?"

A former French finance minister, Lagarde said that it's hard for governments to focus on such things while also delivering on the demands of electorates.

"What is really difficult is to focus on the day to day, to mind the next election, to respect your program or the expectations that your voters have and yet, at the same time, to anticipate what will be the effect of major breakthrough innovations, significant developments," she said.