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Barclays warns that Mythos could prove a problem for larger banks with legacy systems

Major British multinational bank Barclays has issued a warning regarding new advanced AI models with vulnerability after Anthropic released Mythos, which was closely followed by OpenAI releasing GPT-5.4-Cyber.

Mon, 20 Apr 2026
Braclays warns that Mythos could prove a problem for larger banks with legacy systems

Released as part of an industry-wide partnership of companies called Project Glasswing to take advantage of its latest unreleased general-purpose frontier model to help exchange security efforts and make the world’s most critical software more secure, Claude Mythos Preview has the ability to discover vulnerabilities in software rapidly and effectively.

This, while defining the beginning of a new era of vulnerability discovery and patching, has also raised concerns as to what the technology could do in the wrong hands. Currently, its only available to a select few vendors.

Now, Barclays Chief Executive C. S. Venkatakrishnan has said that the technology could prove to be a major threat to the global banking ecosystem, saying that the vulnerability discovery could destabilise banks and majorly impact the finance sector.

 
 

He also said that while it's a concern now, the AI model will only get more advanced as new iterations are developed.

"On Mythos, look, it's a serious issue,” he said at a G30 consultancy group meeting.

"But here's the ​thing: there will ​be a ⁠Mythos 2 and a Mythos 3, and they'll come up with probably distressing ​frequency," he said.

Venkatakrishnan said that models like this are likely to lead to an arms race that leads to lenders being forced to innovate. However for larger banks using legacy systems, this may prove to be a challenge.

"We have ​to understand its capabilities and we have to understand how to safeguard ​against it."

Other finance leaders have issued similar warnings. European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde said that while systems like Mythos could be extremely beneficial, they could also be detrimental in the wrong hands.

"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," Lagarde told Bloomberg TV.

Similarly, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgiva said these systems could lead to impossible to mitigate cyber risks.

"We don't have the ability … to protect the international monetary system against massive cyber risks," she told CBS News’ Face the Nation.

"We are very keen to see more attention to the guardrails that are necessary to protect financial stability in a world of AI."

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Daniel Croft

Born in the heart of Western Sydney, Daniel Croft is a passionate journalist with an understanding for and experience writing in the technology space. Having studied at Macquarie University, he joined Momentum Media in 2022, writing across a number of publications including Australian Aviation, Cyber Security Connect and Defence Connect. Outside of writing, Daniel has a keen interest in music, and spends his time playing in bands around Sydney.
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