India sets up SBI-led panel to assess risks from Mythos AI platform

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman inaugurates the new premises of the State Bank of India (SBI) Local Head Office, at Maharashtra Circle, in Kharadi, Pune district, Maharashtra, Friday, April 24, 2026. SBI Chairman CS Setty, right, is also present.
| Photo Credit:
PTI

On Friday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that the government has set up a committee chaired by SBI Chairman C S Setty—who also heads the Indian Banks’ Association—to evaluate risks posed by the AI platform Mythos and propose counter‑measures.

She added that banks will engage in intensive discussions over the next several weeks to gauge the threats and identify where extra investment might be needed, speaking on the sidelines of the ceremony that opened SBI’s new local head office.

“In the weeks ahead, banks will discuss where additional funding is required, which technologies could be introduced, and how AI itself can be deployed to counter this AI‑driven threat,” Sitharaman said.

Government, banks step up coordination

The government convened a high‑level meeting with banks on Thursday, attended by IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Sitharaman, and other senior officials.

Sitharaman noted that little is currently known about Mythos, with only a handful of users having experimented with the system, which is believed to potentially transform computing.

While the platform has so far safeguarded customers, that track record may not be enough to defend against emerging threats.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is consulting with various governments and technology firms to grasp the issue, the Finance Minister said.

Global concerns over Mythos AI

Anthropic’s AI model Mythos has sparked worldwide debate about financial‑system vulnerabilities, given its ability to uncover flaws in operating systems and potentially launch cyber attacks.

Its sophisticated coding skills enable it to pinpoint security gaps and devise exploitation methods, raising fears that it could be weaponised to disrupt banking infrastructure.

Regulators in Asia, Europe and the United States have already urged banks to review their defences and readiness.

The model has triggered alarm among regulators, who regard it as a serious challenge to the banking industry and its legacy technology foundations.

Banking system vulnerabilities

Banks and financial institutions are especially exposed because of tight interlinkages across payments, markets and clearing systems, coupled with reliance on legacy IT that operates in real time.

A single successful cyber breach could spread rapidly through the network, as each bank is connected to numerous domestic and global entities for inward and outward payments, foreign‑exchange trading, money‑market exposure, stock‑market linkages, depositories and payment gateways, among others.

Published on April 25, 2026