US lifts export controls that had frozen Anthropic's most advanced AI models
The White House lifted the export controls it placed on Anthropic’s two most capable models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, and the company said it would begin restoring access. The restrictions, imposed in early June, had limited foreign access to the models over concern that their ability to find software security vulnerabilities at scale could be turned to offensive use by hostile actors.
The reversal followed weeks of work between Anthropic and the Commerce Department to address those cyber risks. The department had already allowed a limited release of Mythos to government-approved entities before clearing Fable 5. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the two sides had “worked closely” to “analyze and approve Fable 5 to ensure alignment across the US Government and strengthen America’s leadership in AI.”
The episode shows how frontier models are increasingly treated as dual-use technology subject to the same export scrutiny as advanced chips: capabilities valuable to allies and customers are also the capabilities that make a model a potential weapon, and access is now negotiated case by case with the government rather than set by the developer alone.