Anthropic has abruptly disabled its most advanced AI models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, for all users after the US government ordered it to suspend access for foreign nationals, citing national security concerns.
The company received an export control directive requiring suspension of access to its models for all foreign nationals, but was not provided detailed information behind the national security assessment.
The decision has triggered a wave of reactions online, with users sharply divided and often alarmed, with some speculating about political and commercial motives.
Former Zoho Corp CEO Sridhar Vembu called the move 'big', arguing that technology is the ultimate weapon and national sovereignty, national security, and all of it is now about technology.
Anthropic cited 'jailbreak' concerns, saying the government believes there is a method of bypassing safeguards that could allow Fable 5 to be used in identifying software vulnerabilities.
The company is working to restore access to the models as soon as possible, but believes there has been a misunderstanding and that the standard applied would essentially halt all new model deployments for all frontier model providers.
