Japan Financial Firms to Join NEC-Anthropic AI Collaboration

Tokyo, June 11 (Jiji Press)–Japanese electronics maker NEC Corp. said Thursday that major Japanese financial institutions, including Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. and MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings Inc., will participate in its strategic collaboration with U.S. startup Anthropic in the field of artificial intelligence. The partnership aims to improve the quality of financial services for customers using AI and to strengthen measures against cyberattacks. The other companies are Sumitomo Life Insurance Co., Daiwa Securities Group Inc., Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc., Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank and Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co. Using Anthropic’s AI technology, the partners will work not only on developing new services but also on improving productivity by streamlining business processes at each company. Anthropic’s powerful AI model, Claude Mythos, has sparked concern that it may be used to carry out cyberattacks, particularly in the financial sector. Under the collaboration announced in April, NEC and Anthropic aim to jointly develop AI services tailored for operations in the financial, manufacturing and local government sectors. Japan’s three megabank lenders–MUFG Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. and Mizuho Bank–are believed to have gained access to Claude Mythos. Those joining the NEC-Anthropic project aim to further enhance their system security. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]