The emergence of Anthropic’s Mythos has sparked wide-ranging concern about potential threats posed by it and other similar AI models.

The European Central Bank (ECB) is to urge quicker action on improving the IT security of lending organisations amid evolving AI threats when it summons representatives to a meeting tomorrow (26 May), according to the Financial Times (FT).

“This is something that is game-changing. We want banks to look into this seriously. The clock is ticking,” Frank Elderson, vice-chair of the ECB supervisory board that oversees banks, told the FT.

The emergence in April of Anthropic’s Mythos AI model, with its reported high levels of capability in finding and exploiting cybersecurity weaknesses in browsers and operating systems, has sparked wide-ranging concern about potential threats posed by it and other similar models.

“There is a whole range of issues on cybersecurity that we have been engaging on with the banks for years which are all still valid, but given the progress in AI, they need to be dealt with faster,” Elderson told the FT.

US banks such as JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley have been allowed controlled preview access to Mythos, and according to the FT, the ECB hopes for collaboration between US and European lenders on the issue.

Although restricted by a current lack of access to Mythos, European banks still need to be prepared for the threats it, and others, could pose, Elderson told the publication.

“The fact that you don’t have access to this model is not an excuse for inaction,” he said. “Malicious actors might have access to this technology soon.”

Last month, it was reported that a private Discord group had gained unauthorised access to Mythos soon after its launch, although had not used it for malicious purposes.

Meanwhile, a new survey of compliance professionals in Ireland has found that more than one-third of participants believe AI is making it more challenging for financial institutions to safeguard customer and other sensitive data, while just 7pc feel it has made data protection easier.

The study by the Compliance Institute, Ireland’s professional body for compliance practitioners, gathered responses from approximately 150 compliance professionals working primarily across Irish financial services organisations to explore views on the impact of AI on data protection, as well as the steps companies are taking to comply with new EU rules which require them to ensure that staff have an appropriate level of AI literacy.

Michael Kavanagh, CEO of the Compliance Institute, said: “AI is increasingly being used in day-to-day operations across the sector, and that is changing how organisations think about governance, oversight and capability.

“What the results really show is a period of adjustment, where firms are actively building and strengthening the frameworks needed to support the safe and effective use of these technologies alongside their existing regulatory responsibilities.”

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