NSA is using Anthropic's Mythos despite blacklist • Hacker News Board

Re: NSA is using Anthropic's Mythos despite blacklist

#231

Post by veidr » Mon, Apr 20, 2026, 3:10 PM UTC

garbawarb wrote: post #96

daemonologist wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This puts the US government into a loose / loose position. You might even call it... a tight spot

Side note, how did the word "lose" become "loose"? I've seen this so many times on HN.

Exactly the same way that the `cancelled` of my youth became `canceled`. By being misspelled so often that the misspelling won.

In this case, it's not clear who wins yet — "lose" may loose, or mount a comeback, resulting in "loose" being the one to lose.

Re: NSA is using Anthropic's Mythos despite blacklist

#232

Post by SpicyLemonZest » Mon, Apr 20, 2026, 3:14 PM UTC

orochimaaru wrote: post #218

SpicyLemonZest wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That is allegedly not what happened. Anthropic’s CEO was happy to grant waivers on a case by case basis. The problem is the branches of the government that Anthropic was doing business with found it infeasible to do this. That's not what the presidential announcement blacklisting Anthropic said. It said they're being punished for trying to require that the military follow their terms of service.

That’s the other pov (from the govt angle) - https://www.businessinsider.com/pentagon-official-details-ho... The media is usually flush with defending Anthropic. And yes - the supply chain risk label is too broad. But there is another side to the story and Anthropic isn’t an “innocent” as made out to be.

I've heard this POV before, I just re-read it again, and I genuinely do not understand which part of it you think shows Anthropic is anything but innocent. To me it seems pretty clear: Emil Michael heard that Anthropic was asking questions about how their system was used, and he thinks that attitude is an unacceptable security risk. He won't accept the use of systems that were developed based on "their constitution, their culture, their people" or "their own policy preferences". Anyone who would ask such questions might sabotage military operations if they don't like the answers, he argues, and I believe that he genuinely believes this.

So he'll only accept systems developed by people who understand, as Sam Altman promised to, that the US military is not to be questioned.

Re: NSA is using Anthropic's Mythos despite blacklist

#233

Post by veidr » Mon, Apr 20, 2026, 3:14 PM UTC

DonsDiscountGas wrote: post #62

maebert wrote: post #59

The whole artificial scarcity Anthropic created around Mythos / Glasswing is quite brilliant to be honest (I’m Not saying ethical, just brilliant). The commercial gains are one side of course. But consider this: Gets labelled supply chain risk by the pentagon. Hypes up what they claim to be the most advanced hacking tool on the planet. This puts the US government into a loose / loose position. Either deny the NSA acc…

Worth noting that Trump was one who labeled them a supply chain risk for the horrible crime of setting really basic guardrails around usage. (And it's "lose" btw)

turns out it was spelled "lusage" the whole time

Re: NSA is using Anthropic's Mythos despite blacklist

#234

Post by bitcurious » Mon, Apr 20, 2026, 3:15 PM UTC

On top of all that's been said, the "blacklisting" memo from DoD was to take effect on September 2nd; it had a 180 day grace period. Expect this to get renegotiated over the summer.

Re: NSA is using Anthropic's Mythos despite blacklist

#235

Post by jerf » Mon, Apr 20, 2026, 3:22 PM UTC

The only surprise is that it's publicly being stated. I'm sure every major intelligence organization in the world has the all the components of Mythos and are running it locally. That's what they do. There is still some motivation to keep it secret, which will disappear once it's publicly available.

Re: NSA is using Anthropic's Mythos despite blacklist

#236

Post by mwcz » Mon, Apr 20, 2026, 3:23 PM UTC

maebert wrote: post #59

The whole artificial scarcity Anthropic created around Mythos / Glasswing is quite brilliant to be honest (I’m Not saying ethical, just brilliant). The commercial gains are one side of course. But consider this: Gets labelled supply chain risk by the pentagon. Hypes up what they claim to be the most advanced hacking tool on the planet. This puts the US government into a loose / loose position. Either deny the NSA acc…

I think Dario didn't get a Gmail invitation back in the day, and now he's taking it out on everyone.

Re: NSA is using Anthropic's Mythos despite blacklist

#237

Post by triceratops » Mon, Apr 20, 2026, 3:24 PM UTC

mannanj wrote: post #184

me_me_me wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it though, current US President is openly for sale. If you need something done you go to Donald and pay the price. Need a pardon? No problem. Its broad daylight mafia state, the way they operate. 15 years ago Fox News tried to generate outrage because obama wore tan suit.

[flagged]

> Biden also pardoned Fauci for serious crimes

Which ones?

> So who's for sale again?

You're saying Fauci and Hunter paid Joe off?

Re: NSA is using Anthropic's Mythos despite blacklist

#238

Post by irthomasthomas » Mon, Apr 20, 2026, 3:24 PM UTC

maebert wrote: post #59

The whole artificial scarcity Anthropic created around Mythos / Glasswing is quite brilliant to be honest (I’m Not saying ethical, just brilliant). The commercial gains are one side of course. But consider this: Gets labelled supply chain risk by the pentagon. Hypes up what they claim to be the most advanced hacking tool on the planet. This puts the US government into a loose / loose position. Either deny the NSA acc…

It is pretty obvious from the token speed that opus now is sonnet or haiku size a few versions ago. So Mythos is likely what was called opus. They dont tell us the size but they did co firm the training run for Mythos was under the 10^26 flops reporting requirement.

In an alternate universe, opus 4.7 is sonnet 5, and Mythos is released as Opus. Can you imagine how much praise would be heaped on Anthropic if it opus 4.7 was < half the price it is now?

Re: NSA is using Anthropic's Mythos despite blacklist

#239

Post by BeetleB » Mon, Apr 20, 2026, 3:28 PM UTC

veidr wrote: post #231

garbawarb wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Side note, how did the word "lose" become "loose"? I've seen this so many times on HN.

Exactly the same way that the `cancelled` of my youth became `canceled`. By being misspelled so often that the misspelling won. In this case, it's not clear who wins yet — "lose" may loose, or mount a comeback, resulting in "loose" being the one to lose.

I've said it a couple times in the past: That's so cringe!

Re: NSA is using Anthropic's Mythos despite blacklist

#240

Post by Ifkaluva » Mon, Apr 20, 2026, 3:30 PM UTC

latexr wrote: post #118

maebert wrote: post #59

The whole artificial scarcity Anthropic created around Mythos / Glasswing is quite brilliant to be honest (I’m Not saying ethical, just brilliant). The commercial gains are one side of course. But consider this: Gets labelled supply chain risk by the pentagon. Hypes up what they claim to be the most advanced hacking tool on the planet. This puts the US government into a loose / loose position. Either deny the NSA acc…

> The whole artificial scarcity Anthropic created around Mythos / Glasswing is quite brilliant to be honest Isn’t that just the same strategy OpenAI has used over and over? Sam Altman is always “OMG, the new version of ChatGPT is so scary and dangerous”, but then releases it anyway (tells you a lot about his values—or lack thereof) and it’s more of the same. Pretty sure Aesop had a fable about that. “The CEO who crie…

Right, but in Aesop’s fable, the wolf did eventually come. It’s asymmetric, because in this case the wolf is not coming for the boy, it’s coming for everybody else