Bank of Canada’s Macklem says he has spoken to Fed chair about risks from Anthropic’s Mythos AI model

Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem, pictured in Ottawa in early December, said of the Antrhopic Mythos threat that “it's critical that our systems are protected.” Photo by HYUNGCHEOL PARK /Postmedia

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Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem says that he has been in touch with United States Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell to discuss the risks posed by Anthropic PBC‘s latest artificial intelligence model, Mythos, which has the power to amp up the speed and precision of cyber attacks by quickly identifying and exploiting vulnerabilities and has been flagged as a potential risk to financial stability.

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Their discussions have been among a series of high-level communications between Canadian and U.S. officials on the topic, Macklem said Friday during a news conference from Washington, where he is attending meetings of the International Monetary Fund.

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“The Minister of Finance has been talking to Secretary of the Treasury in the U.S. about the U.S. approach,” Macklem said. “I also spoke to chairman Powell … and I expect those conversations will be ongoing in terms of the substance of the issue.”

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As Canada grapples with who should take the lead on cybersecurity and national security risks posed by the new technology, Macklem said the Canadian Financial Sector Resiliency Group, which is chaired by the Bank of Canada, has met twice this month, most recently a couple of days ago. Members include the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI), the Finance Department, the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security and technology experts from the big banks. 

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The group was designed to deal with the risks posed by new technologies, Macklem said, but he added that it is too early to say how this particular threat will be handled.

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“It’s early days, and I don’t think anybody knows the full implications at this point,” he said. “The good thing about this group is they are the experts and there are confidentiality agreements which allow sharing of information to the people who need it.”

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Sources in Canada’s financial sector say government officials are keen for the Bank of Canada, which oversees the payments system, and OSFI, which oversees the banks, to take the lead on a response.

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Macklem said the Bank of Canada’s primary role is to protect the central bank from any potential detrimental impacts of AI and to ensure the integrity of Canada’s payments system. But he acknowledged the broader risks to the financial system and the bank’s central role in the financial sector resiliency group.

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“It’s critical that our systems are protected,” he said, adding that he is talking to François-Philippe Champagne, the minister of finance, about Mythos and AI generally.

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“The world’s moving quickly; we need to keep up.… So those conversations are happening.”

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Macklem said he was not able to say whether any Canadian companies or institutions have been given an preview of Mythos, a courtesy that has been afforded to some companies in the U.S., including JPMorgan Chase & Co.