US lifts export controls on Anthropic's Fable 5, Mythos 5 AI models

The U.S. Department of Commerce has lifted export controls on Anthropic's advanced AI models Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5, allowing the company to begin restoring access after weeks of restrictions that had limited their availability outside the United States.

Announcing the development on X, Anthropic said, "We've received notice that the Department of Commerce has lifted export controls on Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5. We'll begin restoring access tomorrow, and will share an update soon. We're grateful to our users for their patience, and to everyone who worked with us on redeploying the models."

The move reverses restrictions imposed earlier this month, when the U.S. government ordered Anthropic to suspend access to the two frontier AI models for users outside the U.S. over national security concerns on June 12.

The controls were aimed at preventing some of the company's most capable AI systems from being accessed by foreign entities amid growing concerns over their potential use in areas such as cyber operations, intelligence gathering and other sensitive applications.

Restrictions rolled back after security commitments

In a blog post, dated June 12, Anthropic said that the directive from the government did not provide specific details of its national security concern. “Our understanding is that the government believes it has become aware of a method of bypassing, or “jailbreaking” Fable 5. We reviewed a demonstration of this specific technique being used to identify a small number of previously known, minor vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities all appear relatively simple, and we have found that other publicly-available models are able to discover them as well without requiring a bypass,” the blog read.

The export controls had disrupted access for developers, researchers and enterprise customers globally, while also affecting foreign nationals working within Anthropic. The decision had drawn criticism from parts of the AI industry, with companies arguing that the measures created uncertainty for global customers and slowed the deployment of advanced AI systems.

The rollback follows a partial easing of the restrictions last week, when the government allowed Anthropic to provide Mythos 5 to a limited group of trusted U.S. organisations. The latest decision restores broader access to both Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5, with Anthropic saying deployment will begin from tomorrow and that it will provide further updates as access is restored.

Reacting to the restriction, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said last ⁠week on X that extensive safety testing "is not a bad idea. I just don't like the idea of the government picking the customers."