Canada’s federal banking watchdog alerted the country’s financial institutions on risks tied to Anthropic’s Claude Mythos and other advanced AI models, reported Reuters.
According to the regulator, the technology could increase cyber threats and reduce the time available to detect and patch vulnerabilities.
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The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) sent the message to chief technology officers, chief information security officers and chief risk officers across the financial sector, including large banks and insurers, according to documents Reuters obtained through an access-to-information request.
Authorities in several jurisdictions are examining cybersecurity concerns linked to Anthropic’s frontier AI model Mythos.
The model has been described as highly capable of identifying and exploiting cybersecurity vulnerabilities, creating challenges for banks and their older technology systems.
“Advanced artificial intelligence models, such as Anthropic Claude Mythos, significantly compress the timeframe for effective risk mitigation,” OSFI said in an email.
“Accordingly, this bulletin is grounded in our existing guidance and outlines sound practices that institutions can adopt to enhance the speed and effectiveness of risk identification, mitigation and response.”
Recognition of the risks associated with Mythos by OSFI may lead Canadian banks, insurers and other regulated institutions to put more resources into technology aimed at protecting clients from cyber threats, noted the news agency.
In a statement to Reuters, the regulator said: “OSFI takes a technology‑neutral, risk‑focused approach to emerging technologies, including advanced artificial intelligence models such as Mythos. Our focus is not the technology itself, but how federally regulated financial institutions govern and manage the risks associated with its use.”
In early April, Canadian banking executives met regulators to discuss risks linked to Mythos, shortly after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and then-Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell held an urgent meeting with bank chief executives to warn about cyber risks connected to Anthropic’s latest AI model.
OSFI sent the email to company executives in April.
The cyber capabilities of some frontier AI systems are considered that access has been restricted, with currently excluded from Mythos.
Three of Canada’s big six banks, Royal Bank of Canada, TD Bank and BMO, have set out plans to make millions from AI investments as they moved from trial projects to uses such as chatbots, internal tools and reducing dependence on third-party tools.
Bank of Nova Scotia, CIBC and National Bank have also disclosed several AI initiatives.
The Canadian government has access to Anthropic’s Project Glasswing, which allows companies to have access to Mythos. It is unclear which, if any, banks in Canada are using it.
