WASHINGTON — Major artificial intelligence company Anthropic announced Friday that it has disabled access to its newest AI systems, called Fable 5 and Mythos 5, following orders from the Trump administration aimed at blocking foreign nationals from using the technology.
These export restrictions represent the federal government’s most sweeping effort yet to limit access to cutting-edge AI technology. Anthropic had just launched Fable to the public this week. The model serves as a restricted version of the company’s even more sophisticated Mythos system, which has extremely limited access because of cybersecurity concerns.
The company issued a statement expressing disagreement with how the government handled the situation, noting it received the federal directive Friday afternoon without details about specific national security issues. “We believe the government should have the ability to block unsafe deployments, as part of a statutory process that is transparent, fair, clear, and grounded in technical facts,” the company said. “This action does not adhere to those principles.”
Anthropic described the situation as a “misunderstanding” and expressed hope to reinstate access to the models “as soon as possible.”
The Commerce Department has not yet provided comment on the matter.
This development follows President Donald Trump’s executive order signed 10 days ago, which created a system for federal officials to review national security threats posed by advanced AI systems for up to 30 days before public launch. The order indicated that AI company participation would remain voluntary.
