The US government has reportedly ordered Anthropic to suspend access to its two most advanced artificial intelligence models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, for foreign users. According to a company announcement, the directive applies to every foreign national, regardless of whether they are located within or outside the United States. The restrictions extend even to the company’s own employees who do not hold American citizenship. Anthropic clarified that access to the remaining models in the Claude series remains unaffected.
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As reported by The New York Times, citing a source familiar with the matter, the order came from the US Department of Commerce. It remains unknown how long the restrictions will remain in place, while neither the company nor the White House proceeded with further comments. The decision reportedly falls within the framework of American technology export controls and signals a new phase in the artificial intelligence debate. While until now restrictions focused mainly on advanced microchips and computing infrastructure, they now extend to access to the AI models themselves.
According to Axios, Donald Trump’s administration treats these two specific models as technologies with potential national security implications. The restrictions reportedly affect governments, businesses, and individual users outside the framework permitted by American regulations.
Mythos 5 had already generated intense interest but also concern in Washington and Silicon Valley, as it is associated with advanced capabilities in the cybersecurity sector. Anthropic had presented Fable 5 as a more limited version of Mythos 5, with additional safety filters for sensitive fields such as cybersecurity, biology, and other high-risk subjects.
The company, however, made clear suggestions that it considers the government decision excessive. “We apologize for this disruption to our customers. We believe this is a misunderstanding and we are working to restore access as soon as possible,” it stated in its announcement.
Concerns about the impact of restrictions on Anthropic’s AI models
The decision could have immediate consequences both for the commercial exploitation of the new models and for internal technology development at Anthropic, as the restriction affects even foreign nationals working at the company. This is a move much broader than usual export restrictions on advanced technologies, as it does not only limit product distribution to specific countries, but access based on users’ nationality.
The block comes at a time when the American government is seeking a new oversight framework for the most advanced artificial intelligence models, after months of intense discussions about whether systems with high capabilities in cyberspace can be used not only for defense, but also for attacks on critical networks. Experts disagree on whether such technologies should be strictly restricted, as the same tools can be utilized both by hackers and by organizations attempting to identify and fix vulnerabilities before they become targets for exploitation.
The case now opens a new front in Washington’s relationship with major artificial intelligence companies. Until now, the focus of American policy was mainly controlling advanced semiconductors and countries like China’s access to computing power. With the Anthropic case, however, the American state shows it can intervene directly in the use of the models themselves, provided it judges that their capabilities touch the core of national security.
