tech
April 18, 2026
Anthropic's Amodei meets Wiles and Bessent at the White House over Mythos access and Pentagon standoff
In short: Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei met White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Friday in what the White House called “productive and constructive” talks over access to Mythos, the frontier AI model capable of finding thousands of zero-day vulnerabilities. The meeting signals a thaw in the standoff that began when the Pentagon blacklisted Anthropic for refusing to drop safety restrictions, though any deal would likely exclude the Defence Department and route Mythos access through civilian agencies.
TL;DR
- Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei met with White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
- The meeting focused on access to Anthropic's AI model, Mythos, which can find thousands of zero-day vulnerabilities.
- The US government, specifically the Pentagon, had previously blacklisted Anthropic over its refusal to drop safety restrictions.
- The meeting suggests a potential de-escalation of the dispute, with a possible deal routing Mythos access through civilian agencies.
- Mythos has been evaluated as highly capable in cybersecurity offense and has been restricted for controlled access to vetted organizations.
- Anthropic seeks to resolve the blacklisting to restore its enterprise credibility, while the Treasury Department is interested in using Mythos for its systems.
- International allies are also seeking access to Mythos, adding urgency to the US government's efforts to resolve the dispute.
- The talks are described as 'introductory' and 'productive,' indicating a shift in the administration's approach, though no final deal was reached.
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