The ascending artificial intelligence (AI) giant Anthropic is no longer simply a global technology power. Its cutting-edge AI models are increasingly central to U.S. national security. Four recent episodes illustrate this growing reality.
In April, Anthropic withheld the release of its model Mythos Preview, which self-created the most powerful cyber weapon in history, capable of finding more than ten thousand software vulnerabilities in computer networks believed to be highly secure. Earlier this month it was reported that the company had embedded half a dozen “forward deployed engineers” with the National Security Agency to conduct offensive AI cyber operations, presumably against China and Iran. Late last Friday afternoon, the Commerce Department ordered Anthropic to cut off access for all foreign nationals to its two most recent “frontier” models, citing undefined national security concerns. The dramatic dispute with the company, now playing out in the press, is yet another twist in Anthropic’s seemingly tortured relationship with the U.S. national security establishment.
But arguably the most important development came on June 4, when Anthropic issued a significant report on the pace of the AI race titled, “When AI builds itself: Our progress toward recursive self-improvement, and its implications.”
Composed using breezy and sometimes casual prose that obscures its remarkable thesis, the company warned that the next AI breakthrough—perhaps two years away—could create an advanced model so powerful that it evades human control entirely. Anthropic urged its rivals and partners to come together and embark on an unprecedented effort to build a viable multilateral regime of AI arms controlTo read more, click here.
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