Anthropic's claim that its Mythos model is too dangerous for public release is viewed skeptically as a savvy marketing strategy. This narrative justifies gating access, which helps manage immense compute costs and prevents competitors from distilling the model's capabilities, all while generating significant hype and demand from high-paying enterprise clients.

The 'Andy Warhol Coke' era, where everyone could access the best AI for a low price, is over. As inference costs for more powerful models rise, companies are introducing expensive tiered access. This will create significant inequality in who can use frontier AI, with implications for transparency and regulation.

Anthropic's new AI model, Mythos, is so effective at finding and chaining software exploits that it's being treated as a cyberweapon. Its public release is being withheld; instead, it's being used defensively with select partners to harden critical digital infrastructure, signifying a major shift in AI deployment strategy.

Large tech companies are buying up compute from smaller cloud providers not for immediate need, but as a defensive strategy. By hoarding scarce GPU capacity, they prevent competitors from accessing critical resources, effectively cornering the market and stifling innovation from rivals.

Top AI labs like OpenAI and Anthropic engage in a 'Cournot Equilibrium' by competing on the supply of compute and data centers, not by undercutting each other on price. This strategy aims to create high barriers to entry and maintain high prices for access to frontier models.

Escalating compute requirements for frontier models are creating a new market dynamic where access to the best AI becomes restricted and expensive. This shifts power to the labs that control these models, creating a "seller's market" where they act as "kingmakers," granting massive competitive advantages to the highest corporate bidders.

The assumption that startups can build on frontier model APIs is temporary. Emad Mostaque predicts that once models are sufficiently capable, labs like OpenAI will cease API access and use their superior internal models to outcompete businesses in every sector, fulfilling their AGI mission.

The current trend toward closed, proprietary AI systems is a misguided and ultimately ineffective strategy. Ideas and talent circulate regardless of corporate walls. True, defensible innovation is fostered by openness and the rapid exchange of research, not by secrecy.

Anthropic limited its powerful Mythos model, which finds zero-day exploits, to critical infrastructure partners. While framed as a safety measure, this go-to-market strategy also creates hype, justifies premium pricing, and prevents distillation by competitors, solidifying its brand as a responsible AI leader.