Musk reversed his stance on Anthropic, praising its Mythos and Fable models as unmatched in the current AI landscape
Elon Musk just did something he rarely does: admitted he was wrong. On July 9, the owner of X publicly declared Anthropic the current leader in artificial intelligence, calling himself “clearly wrong” about the company and praising its Mythos and Fable models as unmatched by any competitor.
He also predicted that Mythos 2, the next generation of Anthropic’s flagship model, would arrive soon. For a man who runs his own AI company, xAI, that’s a remarkable concession.
From skeptic to supporter #
Anthropic’s Mythos model has carved out a reputation for advanced capabilities in cybersecurity and autonomous reasoning. The model has reportedly identified millions of security vulnerabilities, a feat that’s earned both praise from technologists and scrutiny from regulatory bodies concerned about national security implications.
Musk specifically highlighted Anthropic’s emphasis on practical intelligence over benchmark performance.
The endorsement also carries historical weight. Musk and Anthropic have crossed paths before through potential compute arrangements involving SpaceX’s Colossus data center. Those discussions around leasing compute resources for AI training suggest the relationship between the two camps has been more nuanced than simple rivalry.
Musk framed his support within the context of fair competition, pointing to Tesla’s open patents and SpaceX’s transparency around satellite launches as evidence of his competitive philosophy.
Why crypto markets should pay attention #
Musk’s statement contained zero references to crypto assets or tokens. Not a single mention.
Anthropic’s dominance in practical AI applications, particularly cybersecurity, also has implications for blockchain security infrastructure. Models capable of identifying millions of vulnerabilities could become essential tools for smart contract auditing, protocol defense, and on-chain threat detection. Several crypto security firms have already begun integrating advanced AI models into their tooling.
Anthropic’s Mythos has drawn attention from government agencies concerned about the dual-use nature of powerful AI systems.
The competitive landscape just shifted #
Musk’s concession is particularly striking because xAI, his own venture, has been aggressively competing for AI supremacy. Grok, xAI’s model, has been positioned as a serious contender. For Musk to publicly crown a rival suggests either genuine admiration or a calculated strategic move, possibly both.
If Mythos 2 launches in the near term as Musk expects, it could further consolidate Anthropic’s position ahead of anticipated releases from OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and xAI itself. Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our