{"id":155547,"date":"2026-06-29T15:45:35","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T23:45:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/06\/29\/an-entirely-innocent-question-about-artificial-intelligence\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T15:45:35","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T23:45:35","slug":"an-entirely-innocent-question-about-artificial-intelligence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/06\/29\/an-entirely-innocent-question-about-artificial-intelligence\/","title":{"rendered":"An Entirely Innocent Question About Artificial Intelligence"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia was talking a couple of weeks ago about Anthropic\u2019s artificial intelligence \u201cMythos model.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Warner said<\/a>,\u00a0\u201cThis tool broke into almost all of our classified systems, not in weeks but in hours.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hmmm.<\/p>\n

An artificial intelligence system can break into almost all of the United States\u2019 classified systems in hours.<\/p>\n

That sounds pretty dangerous.<\/p>\n

Am I permitted to ask a follow-up question?<\/p>\n

How does the Mythos model do when you ask it to focus on the North Korean, Iranian, Russian, or Chinese classified systems?<\/p>\n

From the sound of things, you could give some spook a couple of days with the Mythos model and all of North Korea\u2019s nukes would be disabled.\u00a0The Middle East wouldn\u2019t have to worry about Iranian ballistic missiles, because none of them would fly.<\/p>\n

Right?<\/p>\n

Am I missing something?<\/p>\n

I mean, if the problem is that our computer doesn\u2019t speak Persian, that could surely be solved.<\/p>\n

Maybe the computer doesn\u2019t speak Persian now.<\/p>\n

But slightly adjust the large language model, and the computer does speak Persian \u2026 now.<\/p>\n

Are the systems the U.S. government uses to protect its classified documents so inferior to the systems used by other countries that Mythos can crack our systems, but not theirs?<\/p>\n

If so, shame on us.<\/p>\n

But just juice the AI somehow, and set it to work.<\/p>\n

Think about it:\u00a0We don\u2019t have to worry about the Russian nuclear arsenal, because we\u2019ve set AI to work disabling it.\u00a0We don\u2019t have to worry about the Chinese stealing our intellectual property, because all of the thieving software has been disabled.\u00a0In fact, maybe we could start stealing Chinese IP for building electric vehicles, and solar panels, and robotics, and the like.<\/p>\n

Shoot!\u00a0Maybe AI could figure out how to make the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool blue again.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m just a silly clown at a keyboard, typing away out here in the cheap seats.<\/p>\n

But if I\u2019ve had this thought \u2014 if AI can crack our computers, can\u2019t it crack theirs? \u2014 haven\u2019t at least a few people in the U.S. government had the same thought?<\/p>\n

Have those people put the thought into action?<\/p>\n

Maybe the United States is again a hegemon.\u00a0All of the other countries have been infiltrated; their systems won\u2019t work; and they don\u2019t know it yet.<\/p>\n

Or maybe Sen. Mark Warner has slightly misstated things.<\/p>\n

Heck if I know.<\/p>\n

Ask ChatGPT.<\/p>\n

\n

Mark\u00a0Herrmann\u00a0spent 17 years as a partner at a leading international law firm and later oversaw litigation, compliance and employment matters at a large international company. He is the author of\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>The Curmudgeon\u2019s Guide to Practicing Law<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Drug and Device Product Liability Litigation Strategy<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(affiliate links). You can reach him by email at\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>inhouse@abovethelaw.com<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post An Entirely Innocent Question About Artificial Intelligence<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia was talking a couple of weeks ago about Anthropic\u2019s artificial intelligence \u201cMythos model.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Warner said<\/a>,\u00a0\u201cThis tool broke into almost all of our classified systems, not in weeks but in hours.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hmmm.<\/p>\n

An artificial intelligence system can break into almost all of the United States\u2019 classified systems in hours.<\/p>\n

That sounds pretty dangerous.<\/p>\n

Am I permitted to ask a follow-up question?<\/p>\n

How does the Mythos model do when you ask it to focus on the North Korean, Iranian, Russian, or Chinese classified systems?<\/p>\n

From the sound of things, you could give some spook a couple of days with the Mythos model and all of North Korea\u2019s nukes would be disabled.\u00a0The Middle East wouldn\u2019t have to worry about Iranian ballistic missiles, because none of them would fly.<\/p>\n

Right?<\/p>\n

Am I missing something?<\/p>\n

I mean, if the problem is that our computer doesn\u2019t speak Persian, that could surely be solved.<\/p>\n

Maybe the computer doesn\u2019t speak Persian now.<\/p>\n

But slightly adjust the large language model, and the computer does speak Persian \u2026 now.<\/p>\n

Are the systems the U.S. government uses to protect its classified documents so inferior to the systems used by other countries that Mythos can crack our systems, but not theirs?<\/p>\n

If so, shame on us.<\/p>\n

But just juice the AI somehow, and set it to work.<\/p>\n

Think about it:\u00a0We don\u2019t have to worry about the Russian nuclear arsenal, because we\u2019ve set AI to work disabling it.\u00a0We don\u2019t have to worry about the Chinese stealing our intellectual property, because all of the thieving software has been disabled.\u00a0In fact, maybe we could start stealing Chinese IP for building electric vehicles, and solar panels, and robotics, and the like.<\/p>\n

Shoot!\u00a0Maybe AI could figure out how to make the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool blue again.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m just a silly clown at a keyboard, typing away out here in the cheap seats.<\/p>\n

But if I\u2019ve had this thought \u2014 if AI can crack our computers, can\u2019t it crack theirs? \u2014 haven\u2019t at least a few people in the U.S. government had the same thought?<\/p>\n

Have those people put the thought into action?<\/p>\n

Maybe the United States is again a hegemon.\u00a0All of the other countries have been infiltrated; their systems won\u2019t work; and they don\u2019t know it yet.<\/p>\n

Or maybe Sen. Mark Warner has slightly misstated things.<\/p>\n

Heck if I know.<\/p>\n

Ask ChatGPT.<\/p>\n

\n

Mark\u00a0Herrmann\u00a0spent 17 years as a partner at a leading international law firm and later oversaw litigation, compliance and employment matters at a large international company. He is the author of\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>The Curmudgeon\u2019s Guide to Practicing Law<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Drug and Device Product Liability Litigation Strategy<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(affiliate links). You can reach him by email at\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>inhouse@abovethelaw.com<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post An Entirely Innocent Question About Artificial Intelligence<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia was talking a couple of weeks ago about Anthropic\u2019s artificial intelligence \u201cMythos model.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Warner said,\u00a0\u201cThis tool broke into almost all of our classified systems, not in weeks but in hours.\u201d Hmmm. An artificial intelligence system can break into almost all of the United States\u2019 classified systems in hours. That sounds […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":155548,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-155547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/artificial-intelligence-3382507_1280-zzXOUF.jpg?fit=1280%2C853&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}