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Why did Anthropic hold back Mythos?

April 18, 2026 / 01:04

This episode discusses Anthropic's decision to hold back the release of their AI model Mythos, the implications of compute costs, and the marketing strategies involved.

Mark Andre explains that the high compute costs associated with Mythos, estimated to be 10 to 20 times that of Opus, may have influenced Anthropic's decision. He suggests that by delaying the release, they could focus on the upcoming Opus 4.7.

Andre also mentions that this strategy created a perception of scarcity and altruism, which served as a marketing advantage. Government interest in the model increased due to the belief that it was being held back for its impressive capabilities.

He acknowledges that there may be genuine altruistic reasons for the delay, as Mythos could reveal coding vulnerabilities that need to be addressed by companies with large code bases.

Ultimately, the discussion raises questions about the balance between commercial viability and the ethical considerations in AI development.

TLDR

Anthropic's delay of Mythos raises questions about compute costs and marketing strategies.

Episode

1:04

00:00:00

Mark Andre pointed out that one of the reasons why Enthropic might have wanted to hold back Mythos is they simply

00:00:06

didn't have the compute to serve it. The model was huge and very expensive to

00:00:10

serve. Something like 10 or 20 times the token cost of say Opus. They knew Opus 4.7 was coming out, right? So they hold

00:00:17

it back knowing that they don't have the compute to serve it anyway. And they

00:00:21

save their compute for the next iteration of Opus. And then by holding it back, they create this impression of

00:00:26

scarcity and altruism and it turns into this gigantic marketing event for their product because everyone in the

00:00:32

government's like, "Oh, wow. They're holding it back cuz it's so amazing."

00:00:35

Now, look, I think it may have been genuinely altruistic as well in the sense that Mythos does reveal coding

00:00:42

vulnerabilities that people didn't know about before. And it does make sense to

00:00:46

give time to companies with large code bases to patch these dormant bugs and vulnerabilities. But it's looking more

00:00:52

and more like Anthropic could not have offered that model commercially anyway because it was just too big and

00:00:57

expensive and they need to create space for Opus 4.7. So, it's an interesting

00:01:02

theory on what actually happened

Episode Highlights

The Scarcity Strategy
Enthropic's decision to hold back Mythos creates an impression of scarcity and altruism.
“They’re holding it back because it’s so amazing.”
@ 00m 32s
April 18, 2026
Vulnerabilities Revealed
Mythos uncovers coding vulnerabilities, prompting a need for companies to patch bugs.
“Mythos does reveal coding vulnerabilities that people didn’t know about before.”
@ 00m 37s
April 18, 2026

Episode Quotes

They’re holding it back because it’s so amazing.
Why did Anthropic hold back Mythos?
Mythos does reveal coding vulnerabilities that people didn’t know about before.
Why did Anthropic hold back Mythos?

Key Moments

Scarcity and Altruism00:24
Coding Vulnerabilities00:37
Commercial Viability00:54