NSA spies are reportedly using Anthropic’s Mythos, despite Pentagon feud

The National Security Agency is said to be using Mythos Preview, Anthropic’s recently announced model that it withheld from public release, Axios reports. The news comes weeks after the NSA’s parent agency, the Department of Defense, labeled Anthropic a “supply-chain risk,” after the company refused to allow Pentagon officials unrestricted access to its model’s full capabilities.

Anthropic announced Mythos earlier this month as a frontier model designed for cybersecurity tasks, but claimed the model was too capable of offensive cyberattacks to be released publicly. As a result, the AI firm limited access to Mythos to around 40 organizations, of which it has publicly named only a dozen. 

The NSA appears to be among the undisclosed recipients, and is said to be using Mythos primarily for scanning environments for exploitable vulnerabilities. The U.K.’s AI Security Institute has also confirmed it has access to Mythos.

The U.S. military’s expanding use of Anthropic’s tools comes as it simultaneously argues in court that those tools can threaten national security. The Pentagon’s dispute originated when Anthropic refused to make Claude available for mass domestic surveillance and autonomous weapons development. 

The NSA’s access to Mythos comes as Anthropic’s relationship with the Trump administration appears to be thawing. Last Friday, Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei met with White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent.

The White House reportedly called the meeting productive.

TechCrunch has reached out to the NSA for comment. Anthropic declined to comment. 

Got a tip or documents about the AI industry? From a non-work device, contact Rebecca Bellan confidentially at rebecca.bellan@techcrunch.com or Signal: rebeccabellan.491.