Anthropic is already straining to meet soaring demand for its AI coding agent and simply wouldn’t have had the capacity to meet demand if it hadn’t restricted Mythos, says Schneier. Demand for AI model usage far outstrips available supply, forcing companies to choose how to allocate strained computing resources.

Software companies that can’t get their hands on the latest AI models suddenly find themselves at a disadvantage. If they can’t reassure customers that their products have been “Mythos-vetted”, it hands a big advantage to rivals who can.

QUESTIONS ABOUT AVAILABILITY AND AFFORDABILITY

This raises important questions about the wider availability and affordability of advanced AI models as their capabilities increase.

AI companies no doubt could - and one day will - find plenty of reasons to limit access, whether because of security or privacy concerns, or maybe for reasons of national security (an issue that has already brought a confrontation between Anthropic and the Pentagon).

It is impossible, from the outside, to distinguish how much this is driven by economic self-interest and how much by a sense of caution. But with limited computing resources, AI companies are already making choices about the most profitable services and customers to focus on. Anthropic is giving out US$100 million worth of credits for customers to test the model on their software - a move which might counter any criticism of profiteering. But the wider point remains.