Sam Altman throws shade at Anthropic’s cyber model, Mythos: ‘fear-based marketing’

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman criticised Anthropic's marketing approach for its cybersecurity model Mythos during an appearance on the podcast *Core Memory* on Monday. Altman characterised Anthropic's promotional strategy as ‘fear-based marketing’, arguing that such messaging concentrates AI control among a limited set of powerful actors. The comments come amid an ongoing rivalry between the two companies over safety narratives and market positioning.

Altman explicitly stated that Anthropic had ‘done a very effective job at fear-based marketing that keeps them relevant in the conversation.’ He suggested this dynamic risks keeping AI in the hands of ‘a small and exclusive elite.’ The remarks were not accompanied by citation of specific Anthropic campaigns, but Mythos launched earlier this year with a focus on cybersecurity vulnerability detection. Anthropic has not publicly responded to Altman's comments as of publication.

The exchange highlights a broader division in the AI industry over how publicly to discuss risks. OpenAI and Anthropic both claim to prioritise safety but disagree on how aggressively to highlight potential harms in product marketing. An earlier report noted Anthropic's Mythos was used by Mozilla to identify hundreds of bugs, contrasting with OpenAI's emphasis on broader deployment. The interview adds a public dimension to existing tensions over industry messaging strategies.