WireJune 13, 2026 at 6:30 AM
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Anthropic has disabled access to its advanced AI models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, after the U.S. Commerce Department invoked national security export controls to prohibit the company from distributing the models to foreign nationals. The directive applies not only to individuals outside the U.S. but also to foreign nationals residing within the country, including Anthropic’s own non-citizen employees. In a statement, Anthropic stated it had no choice but to disable the models globally.
The Commerce Department’s directive, issued Friday evening, did not provide specific details about the national security risks. However, Anthropic revealed that the government acted after discovering a technique to circumvent Fable 5’s safeguards, which were designed to restrict access to Mythos’s cybersecurity capabilities. The company argued that the jailbreak in question was narrow and unlikely to compromise the model’s overall security. It also noted that similar vulnerabilities exist in other publicly available AI models, such as OpenAI’s GPT-5.5, which are not subject to comparable export controls.
‘We disagree that the finding of a narrow potential jailbreak should be cause for recalling a commercial model deployed to hundreds of millions of people,’ Anthropic stated.
The decision has sparked debate within the AI industry, with some experts characterizing the move as part of an ongoing political feud between Anthropic and the Trump administration. Earlier this year, President Trump ordered federal agencies to cease using Anthropic’s models after the company refused to comply with Pentagon contract terms, which would have allowed the military to use its AI for autonomous weapons systems or mass surveillance. The Pentagon later labeled Anthropic a ‘supply chain risk,’ effectively barring its models from government contracts.
AI policy expert Dean Ball criticized the directive, calling it ‘cartoonish’ and questioning whether it represents targeted lawfare against Anthropic or an extreme national security measure. Regardless, the move underscores the growing tension between private AI developers and U.S. government oversight, raising concerns about the future of innovation in the sector.