Anthropic Co-Founder Confirms Briefing Trump Administration on AI Model Mythos

Jack Clark, co-founder of Anthropic and Head of Public Benefit for Anthropic PBC, confirmed the AI company briefed the Trump administration on its new Mythos model.

Announced last week, the model is considered too dangerous for public release, primarily due to its advanced cybersecurity capabilities.

During an interview at Semafor's World Economy summit, Clark explained why the company continues to engage with the U.S. government while also pursuing legal action against it.

In March, Anthropic filed a lawsuit against the Department of Defense (DOD) after being designated a supply chain risk. The dispute centered on Pentagon demands for unrestricted access to Anthropic's AI systems for applications including mass surveillance and autonomous weapons. (OpenAI ultimately secured the contract.)

At the conference, Clark characterized the administration's "supply chain risk" label as a narrow contractual issue, emphasizing it shouldn't overshadow Anthropic's commitment to national security.

"We believe the government must be informed about such developments, and we must establish new public-private partnerships for technologies that are revolutionizing the economy yet carry national security implications," Clark stated. "We absolutely discussed Mythos with them and will continue dialogues on future models."

His confirmation follows recent reports that Trump administration officials urged major banks—including JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley—to test the Mythos model.

Clark also addressed AI's broader societal impacts during the interview, touching on topics like unemployment and higher education.

While Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has warned AI could drive unemployment to Depression-era levels, Clark offered a nuanced perspective. He explained Amodei's forecast stems from expectations of rapid, transformative AI advancements.

Clark, who leads an economics team at Anthropic, noted the company currently observes only "some potential weakness in early graduate employment" within specific sectors. He added that Anthropic is prepared to respond to more significant labor market shifts.

When asked what college majors students should pursue or avoid due to AI's influence, Clark broadly recommended fields that "involve synthesis across diverse subjects and cultivate analytical thinking."

"AI essentially provides access to a vast array of domain experts," Clark said. "The critical skill is knowing which questions to ask and developing intuitions about fruitful intersections between different disciplines."