US lifts restrictions on Anthropic’s powerful AI models Fable and Mythos

AI firm says it will begin restoring access to Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5 after the removal of export controls.

The United States government has lifted its restrictions on foreign access to Anthropic’s most powerful AI models, the company has announced.

Anthropic said late on Tuesday that it would begin restoring access to Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5 from tomorrow after the US Department of Commerce notified the company that it had removed its export controls.

“We’re grateful to our users for their patience, and to everyone who worked with us on redeploying the models,” Anthropic said in a statement posted on X.

In a letter to Anthropic that was widely circulated online, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the company no longer required an export licence as it had agreed to “proactively detect and address security risks associated with the models”, to work with the government on standards for upcoming models, and to inform the government of “malicious activity”.

Anthropic abruptly shut off Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5 last month after US President Donald Trump’s administration ordered the company to restrict all foreign nationals, including company employees, from accessing the models.

Anthropic said at the time that the government had not provided a specific reason for the order beyond unspecified national security concerns, but that it believed officials were worried about security vulnerabilities in Fable 5.

On Friday, the San Francisco-based company said it had been granted approval to provide the models to US organisations that “operate and defend critical infrastructure”, and that it was working with the government to restore general access for the public.

The restrictions had been the latest source of tension in the testy relationship between Anthropic and the Trump administration.

In March, Anthropic sued the US Department of Defense after the Pentagon labelled the company a “supply chain risk” over its refusal to work with the US military without explicit assurances that its AI tools will not be used for mass surveillance or autonomous weapons.

While Trump began his second term championing a lassie faire approach to AI regulation, his administration has more recently ramped up oversight of the technology.

OpenAI, the creator of ChatCPT, last week announced that it would launch its latest AI model series, GPT-5.6, for a “small group of trusted partners” at first following pressure by the US government to stagger the release.

Francesco Bailo, deputy director of the AI, Trust and Governance Centre at the University of Sydney, said that the lifting of the restrictions had been expected in tech circles as reports that researchers were able to “jailbreak” Fable 5 had been widely inflated beyond their actual significance.

“The US government likely realised it had overreacted, and also that its decision would produce a dangerous, messy precedent in terms of regulations and strong backlash from an industry that has invested considerably in maintaining close communication with the Trump administration,” Bailo told Al Jazeera.

“It was also clear that if Fable and Mythos were blocked on these grounds, competitor models would have to be blocked too.”

Tanishq Abraham, a former research director at Stability AI who now leads the medical AI company Sophont, said the Trump administration’s latest move was a “big deal” that raised important questions for regulation of the industry.

“Externally, it seems like the fraught relationship between Anthropic and the US gov has been improving, and this is likely due to the efforts of Tom Brown,” Abraham told Al Jazeera, referring to the Anthropic cofounder.

“The biggest question now is: What precedent does this set for the industry? Does the US government need to approve every frontier model release?” Abraham said.

“We’re already starting to see this with the GPT-5.6 release. Lots of unanswered questions about how frontier labs have to interact with the US government.”

Read the full story at Axios ↗ · Al Jazeera ↗ · The Hill ↗

The US Department of Commerce removed export controls on Anthropic's Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models. Anthropic had restricted access to these models last month after the Trump administration ordered foreign nationals, including employees, to be blocked from using them over unspecified national security concerns. The company has now agreed to detect security risks, coordinate with the government on standards, and report malicious activity. Access restoration begins immediately, with priority given to organisations operating critical infrastructure. This reversal follows Anthropic's prior lawsuit against the Pentagon over military collaboration restrictions. Industry analysts noted the administration's initial action appeared to be an overreaction, particularly given that similar vulnerabilities would affect competitor models under the same logic.

Read the full story at Axios ↗ · Al Jazeera ↗ · The Hill ↗

AI firm says it will begin restoring access to Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5 after the removal of export controls.

The United States government has lifted its restrictions on foreign access to Anthropic’s most powerful AI models, the company has announced.

Anthropic said late on Tuesday that it would begin restoring access to Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5 from tomorrow after the US Department of Commerce notified the company that it had removed its export controls.

“We’re grateful to our users for their patience, and to everyone who worked with us on redeploying the models,” Anthropic said in a statement posted on X.

In a letter to Anthropic that was widely circulated online, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the company no longer required an export licence as it had agreed to “proactively detect and address security risks associated with the models”, to work with the government on standards for upcoming models, and to inform the government of “malicious activity”.

Anthropic abruptly shut off Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5 last month after US President Donald Trump’s administration ordered the company to restrict all foreign nationals, including company employees, from accessing the models.

Anthropic said at the time that the government had not provided a specific reason for the order beyond unspecified national security concerns, but that it believed officials were worried about security vulnerabilities in Fable 5.

On Friday, the San Francisco-based company said it had been granted approval to provide the models to US organisations that “operate and defend critical infrastructure”, and that it was working with the government to restore general access for the public.

The restrictions had been the latest source of tension in the testy relationship between Anthropic and the Trump administration.

In March, Anthropic sued the US Department of Defense after the Pentagon labelled the company a “supply chain risk” over its refusal to work with the US military without explicit assurances that its AI tools will not be used for mass surveillance or autonomous weapons.

While Trump began his second term championing a lassie faire approach to AI regulation, his administration has more recently ramped up oversight of the technology.

OpenAI, the creator of ChatCPT, last week announced that it would launch its latest AI model series, GPT-5.6, for a “small group of trusted partners” at first following pressure by the US government to stagger the release.

Francesco Bailo, deputy director of the AI, Trust and Governance Centre at the University of Sydney, said that the lifting of the restrictions had been expected in tech circles as reports that researchers were able to “jailbreak” Fable 5 had been widely inflated beyond their actual significance.

“The US government likely realised it had overreacted, and also that its decision would produce a dangerous, messy precedent in terms of regulations and strong backlash from an industry that has invested considerably in maintaining close communication with the Trump administration,” Bailo told Al Jazeera.

“It was also clear that if Fable and Mythos were blocked on these grounds, competitor models would have to be blocked too.”

Tanishq Abraham, a former research director at Stability AI who now leads the medical AI company Sophont, said the Trump administration’s latest move was a “big deal” that raised important questions for regulation of the industry.

“Externally, it seems like the fraught relationship between Anthropic and the US gov has been improving, and this is likely due to the efforts of Tom Brown,” Abraham told Al Jazeera, referring to the Anthropic cofounder.

“The biggest question now is: What precedent does this set for the industry? Does the US government need to approve every frontier model release?” Abraham said.

“We’re already starting to see this with the GPT-5.6 release. Lots of unanswered questions about how frontier labs have to interact with the US government.”

Read the full story at Axios ↗ · Al Jazeera ↗ · The Hill ↗

The US Department of Commerce notified Anthropic that it removed export controls on Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5. Anthropic agreed to proactively detect and address security risks, work with the government on model standards, and report malicious activity. Anthropic restricted foreign access to these models last month following a Trump administration order. The administration cited unspecified national security concerns without providing specific reasons, though officials were reportedly worried about security vulnerabilities in Fable 5. The US government likely realised it had overreacted to the security risks. The restrictions would have produced a dangerous precedent because competitor models would have needed blocking under the same logic. The fraught relationship between Anthropic and the US government appears to be improving. The reversal raises questions about whether the US government will need to approve every frontier AI model release.

Read the full story at Axios ↗ · Al Jazeera ↗ · The Hill ↗

• The US government lifted export restrictions on Anthropic's Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models after the company agreed to security monitoring and government coordination.
• Anthropic had blocked foreign access to these models last month following a Trump administration order citing unspecified national security concerns.
• The reversal followed criticism that the restrictions were an overreaction and could set problematic precedents for AI industry regulation.