Cybersecurity stocks slumped on Friday following a report that Anthropic is testing a powerful new artificial intelligence model that is more advanced in cyber capabilities and also presents potential security risks.
Fortune first reported the news on Thursday, citing information from a publicly accessible draft blog post. According to the report, the new Mythos model is being touted as Anthropic's most powerful yet. However, the company is planning a slow rollout due to potential cybersecurity implications.
Anthropic did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.
Cybersecurity stocks slumped on the news, as the iShares Cybersecurity ETF lost 3%, while market leaders CrowdStrike and Palo Alto Networks dropped 7%. Zscaler and SentinelOne tumbled over 8%. Tenable plummeted nearly 11%, while Okta and Netskope fell more than 6% each.
This isn't a new phenomenon for the sector that's fallen prey to AI disruption fears.
Last month, cyber stocks fell after Anthropic announced a new code-scanning security tool to Claude. The broader software space is also feeling the pressure from tech innovation.
The rise of AI and autonomous agents is shifting the threat landscape and putting pressure on cybersecurity companies to innovate against increasingly sophisticated threats and tools that streamline attacks for hackers.
Anthropic said in November that a state-sponsored group in China utilized Claude to automate a cyberattack.
Read the full Fortune article here.
