Jack Clark, co-founder and Head of Public Benefit for Anthropic PBC, confirmed that Anthropic briefed the Trump administration about its Mythos model, which is deemed too dangerous for public release due to its strong cybersecurity capabilities. In an interview at the Semafor World Economy summit, Clark discussed Anthropic’s ongoing engagement with the U.S. government alongside its lawsuit against the Department of Defense (DOD).
This March, Anthropic filed a lawsuit against the DOD after the agency classified the company as a supply-chain risk. The dispute centered on whether the military should have unrestricted access to Anthropic’s AI systems for mass surveillance and autonomous weapons, with OpenAI ultimately winning the military access deal. Clark characterized the DOD’s supply-chain risk label as a “narrow contracting dispute” and stressed that Anthropic remains committed to national security.
Clark stated, “Our position is the government has to know about this stuff, and we have to find new ways for the government to partner with a private sector that is making things that are truly revolutionizing the economy, but are going to have aspects to them which hit National Security.” He confirmed that discussions regarding the Mythos model and future AI developments occurred with government officials.
Reports indicated that Trump officials encouraged major banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley, to test the Mythos model. Clark addressed AI’s societal effects, particularly concerning unemployment and education. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei had previously warned that advances in AI could lead to unemployment levels akin to those during the Great Depression. However, Clark slightly disagreed, noting that current trends show “some potential weakness in early graduate employment” in specific industries.
Clark advised college students to focus on majors that integrate various subjects and promote analytical thought, stating, “That’s because what AI allows us to do is it allows you to have access to sort of an arbitrary amount of subject matter experts in different domains.” He emphasized the need for students to ask the right questions and blend insights from diverse fields to leverage AI’s capabilities effectively.
