FM Sitharaman flags “Mythos” AI Threat, urges banks to unite under SBI Lead for stronger defences

Apr 24, 2026

Pune (Maharashtra): April 24, 2026 Following her meeting with heads of banks on AI risks, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said, "It has always been that the banks in India, because of greater digitisation happening, that we are adequately equipped to meet any challenges and risks. Now, because of the new challenge which coming in the name of Mythos, about which not much is known, MeitY has an active engagement with tech companies, various authorities and governments across the globe to understand how this will play out and the preparedness needed. All the while, what we have and proved ourselves to be that we are protective, might not be enough. We need something far more versatile. The banks have been told to work together. Chairman SBI will be leading this effort. In the coming weeks, there will be a lot of interaction between the banks and how AI itself can be used to counter this AI-born challenge." Earlier Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman chaired a high-level meeting on Thursday, along with Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw, with Scheduled Commercial Banks and key stakeholders to assess the potential impact of emerging threats linked to recent developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) models, particularly the possibility of such technologies being misused to weaponise software vulnerabilities.