Don’t be fooled by this summer of AI hype

It’s been a busy few months for AI hype. At the end of April, Anthropic claimed that its model Claude Mythos is better at finding software vulnerabilities than most security experts. Then we had the OpenAI–Hugging Face hacking incident, after which Anthropic (proudly) and Meta (reluctantly) disclos…

Résumé

Recent AI hype claims

Between April and September 2026, several AI companies made bold claims that were widely covered by the media.

Anthropic stated its Claude Mythos model was better at finding software vulnerabilities than most security experts.

OpenAI and Hugging Face reported a hacking incident involving their models, which was followed by Anthropic and Meta disclosing similar security issues.

Anthropic also claimed one of its models made a mathematical breakthrough, and OpenAI soon after announced its own.

Additionally, an Anthropic engineer, Jacob Coxon, left the company and went viral for stating that both Anthropic and OpenAI were pursuing self-improving superintelligence, which he described as dangerous.

These claims often used anthropomorphizing framings—language that makes AI systems seem more human-like or intelligent than they are—to portray the software as powerful or even capable of artificial general intelligence (AGI), a hypothetical future AI that could perform any intellectual task a human can.