China’s Zhipu AI has introduced the GLM-5.2 model, which reportedly matches Mythos in cybersecurity and bug-finding capabilities, although it lags behind Anthropic and OpenAI in general tasks. This advancement raises national security concerns for the U.S., particularly regarding unrestricted access to sophisticated AI models. The open-weight nature of GLM-5.2 allows widespread use but poses potential risks for misuse by bad actors.

Notifications

Hamburger Navigation Button

Navigation Drawer

The VergeThe Verge logo.

closeClose

LightSystemDark

Comments Drawer

Notifications

Comments

Loading comments

Getting the conversation ready...

AI
News
Policy

China’s Z.ai claims it can match Mythos on cybersecurity

GLM-5.2 can’t match Anthropic or OpenAI on general tasks, but the gap has closed on finding bugs.

byTerrence O'Brien

Jun 28, 2026, 5:42 PM EDT

Link
Share
Gift

STKS515_CYBER_WARFARE2_C

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images

Terrence O'Brienis the Verge’s weekend editor. He’s covered the tech industry for over 18 years and knows a thing or two about synths.

China’s Zhipu AI ( Z.ai) released its open-weight GLM-5.2, and some researchers have claimed that it matches Mythos in certain bug-finding and cybersecurity scenarios. While GLM lags behind models from Anthropic and OpenAI in other, more general tasks, it seems that China has dramatically reduced the gap in the capabilities between its models and those of the US.

This level of advancement is particularly concerning to the US government, which has worked to restrict China’s access to powerful models like Anthropic’s Mythos and Fable, as well as the hardware necessary to train and run them. The Trump administration views Mythos and other advanced AI models capable of identifying vulnerabilities as serious national security threats. Recently, OpenAI unveiled GPT-5.6, which has also raised concerns about its potential for misuse and has limited access to it.

Add Verge on Google

Add Verge as a preferred source to see more of our reporting on Google.

Add us on Google

Because GLM is an open-weight model, it can be downloaded and run by anyone on readily available hardware. That gives it great flexibility and allows power users deep access, but it also makes it ripe for abuse by bad actors who can run it with little oversight.

Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.

Terrence O'Brien
AI
News
Policy
Politics
Security
Tech

Most Popular

The Verge Daily

A free daily digest of the news that matters most.

Email (required)

By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Advertiser Content From\ \ Sponsor Logo \ \ This is the title for the native ad\ \ Sponsor thumbnail