Anthropic touts AI cybersecurity project with Big Tech partners

Anthropic on Tuesday announced an initiative with major technology companies, including Amazon.com, Microsoft and Apple, that lets partners preview an advanced ​cybersecurity model developed by the AI startup.

Under its “Project ‌Glasswing”, select organizations will be allowed to use the startup’s unreleased and general-purpose AI model, “Claude Mythos Preview”, for defensive cybersecurity work, Anthropic said. Other partners include ​CrowdStrike, Palo Alto Networks, Google and Nvidia.

The announcement follows a Fortune report ​last month that Anthropic was testing Claude Mythos, which it said ⁠posed security risks and also offered advanced capabilities, dragging shares of cybersecurity ​firms such as Palo Alto Networks and CrowdStrike sharply lower.

This year’s RSA cybersecurity ​conference in San Francisco was also dominated by talk about the rise of AI-powered cyberattacks and whether conventional security tools sufficed.

In a blog post on Tuesday, Anthropic said Mythos Preview had found “thousands” of ​major vulnerabilities in operating systems, web browsers and other software.

The startup ​said launch partners will use Mythos Preview in their defensive security work, and Anthropic ‌will ⁠share findings with industry.

Anthropic said it is also extending access to about 40 additional organizations responsible for critical software infrastructure, and made a commitment of up to $100 million in usage credits and $4 million in donations to open-source security ​groups.

The AI startup ​added that its ⁠eventual goal is for “our users to safely deploy Mythos-class models at scale.”

The startup said it has also ​been in ongoing discussions with the U.S. government ​about the ⁠model’s capabilities.

Last year, Anthropic said that hackers exploited vulnerabilities in its Claude AI to attack around 30 global organizations. Moreover, 67% of the 1,000 ⁠executives ​surveyed in an IBM and Palo Alto Networks ​study said they had been targeted by AI attacks within the past year.