BofA CEO: Hired 1,000 Contractors to Patch Flaws Found by Anthropic's Mythos, Projects $700M in AI Savings Next Year

In an interview following Bank of America's third-quarter earnings release on Wednesday, CEO Brian Moynihan revealed that the bank hired 1,000 external contractors to support 3,000 internal staff in patching proprietary and vendor software flaws exposed by advanced AI models, including Anthropic's Mythos. This effort contributed to "a couple hundred million plus" in additional costs for software remediation and anti-money laundering compliance in the third quarter.

Moynihan described the risk as real, noting that when frontier models like Mythos emerged, the bank had to rush to bolster its codebase. He explained that the need for these contractors arose because AI models can uncover decades-old software vulnerabilities, forcing firms into a costly defensive scramble. However, he reassured investors that these remediation costs are temporary and expected to decline as the patching pipeline moves through.

Conversely, the bank is leveraging AI to drive significant cost reductions. Moynihan stated that Bank of America has approximately 130 internal AI projects, with expected savings rising from $300 million this year to $700 million in 2027. The bank also cut about 3,400 employees over the past year, though the specific portion attributable to AI automation was not detailed.

This disclosure highlights the dual-edged economic reality of adopting generative AI for large enterprises: while AI acts as a tool that exposes security weaknesses requiring immediate, unbudgeted spending, it simultaneously serves as a productivity driver promising substantial operational efficiencies. Investors should monitor how this net effect evolves, particularly regarding the peak and subsequent decline of defensive security expenditures.