The U.S. Department of Commerce ordered Anthropic PBC to block foreign nationals from accessing its most advanced artificial intelligence models [1, 2].
The move signals a tightening of U.S. export controls on AI technology, reflecting growing government anxiety over the potential for high-tier models to be weaponized by foreign adversaries.
Anthropic responded by disabling Mythos 5 and Claude Fable 5 [1] for all users. The company took this step after the U.S. export-control directive barred foreign-national access to the systems [2, 3].
"We were forced to abruptly disable our most advanced AI models for all users," an Anthropic spokesperson said [4].
U.S. officials issued the order on Friday, June 12, 2026 [1, 5]. The directive was driven by AI-safety and national-security concerns after the government discovered that the Fable 5 model could be manipulated to ignore its safety protocols [6, 7, 8].
Neil Campling of Bloomberg Television said the U.S. government discovered it is possible to "jailbreak," or bypass the guardrails, of the Fable 5 [6].
A representative for the U.S. Department of Commerce said the action was necessary to protect national security and prevent misuse of advanced AI [1].
The restrictions apply globally to Anthropic's services [1, 8]. While the order specifically targeted foreign nationals, the company's decision to disable the models for all users suggests a difficulty in implementing a precise filtering system that satisfies government requirements without risking a breach.
“"We were forced to abruptly disable our most advanced AI models for all users."”
This incident highlights a growing friction between the global deployment of AI and national security mandates. By forcing a total shutdown of Mythos 5 and Claude Fable 5, the U.S. government is prioritizing the prevention of 'jailbreaking'—where safety filters are bypassed—over the commercial availability of the tools. It sets a precedent that the U.S. may treat advanced AI weights and access as strategic assets similar to high-end semiconductors.
