OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently criticized rival Anthropic's new cybersecurity model, Mythos, during a podcast appearance, labeling its marketing as "fear-based." Altman suggested that Anthropic is using scare tactics to make its product seem more impressive than it actually is.
Anthropic introduced the Mythos model earlier this month, releasing it to a select group of enterprise customers. The company has stated that Mythos is too potent for public release, citing concerns that cybercriminals could weaponize it. However, critics argue this rhetoric is exaggerated.
Appearing on the "Core Memory" podcast, Altman implied that Anthropic's "fear-based marketing" serves as a mechanism to keep AI controlled by a small, exclusive elite. He commented, “There are people in the world who, for a long time, have wanted to keep AI in the hands of a smaller group of people. You can justify that in a lot of different ways.”
Altman further elaborated, stating, “It is clearly incredible marketing to say, ‘We have built a bomb, we are about to drop it on your head. We will sell you a bomb shelter for $100 million.’”
It's important to note that fear-based marketing is not a new invention by Anthropic. Indeed, much of the AI industry has, at times, employed scare tactics and hyperbole to emphasize the power of its tools. The ongoing narrative about AI potentially leading to apocalyptic outcomes has not solely originated from Luddite doomer activists but also from those who develop and sell this technology to the public, including Altman himself.