RBI In Talks With Banks To Assess Risks Posed By Anthropic's Mythos: Report

The RBI data localisation rule, issued in 2018, requires all payment system providers in India to store end-to-end transaction data, including user information and payment messages, exclusively on servers located within India.

The RBI is preparing broader guidelines for banks entering enterprise partnerships with advanced AI models, including Mythos and Anthropic's Claude family, as part of a longer-term strategy on AI adoption.

Reuters reported earlier this week that Anthropic plans to provide Mythos access to European banks soon.

RBI's preliminary assessment, similar to global regulators, suggests Mythos could pose cybersecurity risks by accelerating discovery and exploitation of software vulnerabilities.

India's central bank is in talks with global regulators, Indian lenders and government officials to understand potential risks posed by Anthropic's Mythos, according to three sources.

Access to Mythos has been limited to a small number of organisations involved in maintaining key digital infrastructure in the US, and running tests on local data in foreign jurisdictions could prove challenging.

India's National Payments Corporation of India is trying to secure early access to Mythos alongside a small number of banks, to identify vulnerabilities and 'day-zero' cyber risks ahead of broader rollout.

The RBI may seek direct engagement with Anthropic, the sources said.

RBI officials have, over the past fortnight, held consultations on Mythos-related risks with counterparts in the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England in particular, according to one of the sources.