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John Arnett: Not as bad as the movies
Published 2:10 pm Friday, May 29, 2026
I read with great interest several articles about Mythos, the new version of the AI intelligence app Claude. The company that developed Mythos stated that it is too dangerous and too powerful to be released to the public.
This sort of reminds me of the horror-movie advertisements from the 1970s drive-in movies: dire warnings in television commercials that ambulances would be standing by in case patrons were overcome by fear, anxiety, or dread, or by the prices at the concession stand. Another ad said the movie’s ending was so shocking that no one would be allowed to leave the theater during the last 10 minutes. You have to admit that being locked in a movie theater with rowdy patrons, a bad sound system, and sticky floors really does sound pretty horrible.
My experience with artificial intelligence apps like ChatGPT and the entry-level version of Claude is pretty limited. I ask questions about things I find growing in my garden, or I use it to improve old Polaroids or family pictures from 100 years ago. I also had it create a nice image of me playing guitar on stage between Eric Clapton and David Gilmour — all pretty benign things.
It would be nice to think that AI could solve global warming, cure cancer, improve food and water consumption, or develop new medicines. From what we read, that is still possible. But it seems that AI, if misused, can empty your bank account, spread believable misinformation, make your job obsolete, or, as in the old sci-fi movies, produce killer robots.
Despite warning the public that the new program was dangerous, the developers, Anthropic, released Mythos to 50 trusted, vetted organizations for testing. We’ve all seen enough movies where the virus or the monster escapes from a controlled environment to wreak havoc on an unsuspecting population.
Throughout history, technology has always been seen as a threat to the status quo. Bow and arrows, steam locomotives, incandescent light bulbs, and word processors all changed someone’s livelihood or living conditions.
Just look at the abilities you have that you actually hold in your hand right now. Your phone, with the applications you have, lets you do more than if you had every item from a mall technology store from 20 years ago. But you wouldn’t give up your phone today to save the job of every RadioShack employee in America.
Will there be changes? Yes. Goldman Sachs estimates that 40% of trucking and delivery jobs could vanish in the next 10 years. Drones will do all that. That’s bad news for truckers. But what about enhanced control of surgical robots? Is that a fair trade, technologically speaking? We’re all gonna agree that that’s a yes.
It’s fair to say that Mythos probably won’t be as good or as bad as we read right now. No need for dancing in the streets as our robot overlords show us a better world, but no need to panic either. Let’s just sit back, munch some popcorn, and see how technology works out for us.
John Arnett, of Frankfort, is a State Journal columnist, a financial regulator in public service and a longtime coach for Frankfort Parks and Rec in the summer. He can be reached at [email protected]
