The US government lifted its export block on Anthropic’s Claude Mythos 5 on Friday. The decision clears the model for release to more than 100 US institutions, including major companies and government agencies.
The move reverses a two-week standoff between the Trump administration and Anthropic. It rewards Mythos 5 while leaving Fable 5, the consumer version, offline.
Commerce Clears Claude Mythos 5 for Trusted Partners
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick set out the decision in a Friday letter to Anthropic compute chief Tom Brown. A license is no longer required to export Mythos 5 to the entities named in Annex A.
“I have determined that appropriate safeguards are in place to permit certain trusted partners to access the Claude Mythos 5 Model,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Semafor
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Senior Anthropic staff had flown to Washington to meet administration officials during the dispute, according to CNBC.
The reversal frees the model behind the Mythos and Fable rollout from controls imposed this month. The block had forced both models offline after Amazon, one of Anthropic’s largest investors, raised the alarm. Its researchers had warned that Fable 5 could be jailbroken for harmful use.
Until then, Mythos sat inside Project Glasswing, a vulnerability-hunting program spanning about 150 organizations across more than 15 countries. The model had earlier found flaws in classified systems within hours of government testing.
Fable 5 Still Waits as a New AI Regime Forms
Sources near the talks said a Fable 5 release is advancing, even as the timeline stays unclear. Unlike Mythos, Fable 5 had been open to anyone with a subscription. It briefly stood as the most powerful AI tool available to the public.
The episode is hardening into a new gatekeeping system. A June 2 executive order set up a voluntary channel for federal review of frontier models. Developers can submit models for a cyber check up to 30 days before release. Washington has spent the past year tightening AI chip exports to China. Extending that authority to a model’s access marks a new front.
OpenAI followed the same path on Friday. It limited its most powerful GPT-5.6 tier, Sol, to about 20 government-approved partners. The weaker Terra and Luna versions went to the public.
The block first grew from fears over Chinese access. Reporting tied the concern to SK Telecom, a South Korean carrier added to Glasswing in early June before losing access. SK Telecom has denied any China ties.
Dozens of cybersecurity leaders had pressed the administration to drop the controls. The open letter, organized by former Facebook security chief Alex Stamos, drew signatures from firms including Nvidia, Adobe, and Zoom.
Allies in Europe and beyond have grown frustrated at suddenly depending on Washington for access. Whether Fable 5 wins the same clearance may become clear in the coming days.
Bitrue