According to the Financial Times, citing sources familiar with the matter, Anthropic has sent approximately six engineers to the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) to assist the agency in using the company’s advanced cybersecurity model, Mythos. The report does not specify whether these engineers or the model have been directly involved in NSA hacking operations.
Engineers have arrived at NSA.
Reports state that the engineers' task is to assist the NSA in deploying and using Mythos in specific scenarios. At this stage, the exact scope of application remains unclear, and it is unconfirmed whether it involves offensive cyber operations.
The NSA's responsibilities include not only gathering intelligence through methods such as eavesdropping, underwater cable tapping, and corporate partnerships, but also launching cyberattacks against foreign adversaries. As a result, this collaboration quickly drew public attention to the potential use of AI models in intelligence and cyberwarfare scenarios.
Previously, there were controversies surrounding the ban.
This report also continues the controversy surrounding Mythos. In April this year, Axios reported that the NSA was already using Mythos, despite a federal ban on the use of Anthropic’s technology.
The ban is reportedly linked to the U.S. Department of Defense's previous listing of Anthropic as a "supply chain risk." The decision was described as a response to Anthropic's refusal to allow the government to use its models for large-scale domestic surveillance and autonomous weapons.
The official side has not directly responded.
When TechCrunch reached out to the NSA, the agency declined to confirm or deny the report. Anthropic did not respond to requests for comment.
Currently, publicly available information still cannot confirm the extent of Mythos’s deployment within the NSA or determine whether it has entered more sensitive cyber operations. However, the direct involvement of engineers in supporting the model suggests that its connection to the U.S. intelligence community is deepening.