Anthropic disables – Anthropic says it shut off customer access to its Fable 5 and Mythos 5 AI models after receiving a U.S. export-control directive at 5:21 p.m. ET requiring the company to suspend access by any foreign national. The company says other models will continue unaffe
The morning after Anthropic pushed Fable 5 and Mythos 5 into public attention, the access went dark.
On Friday. Anthropic announced it disabled access to its Fable 5 and Mythos 5 artificial intelligence models to comply with a U.S. export control directive. The order cited “national security authorities.” The company said it received the instruction at 5:21 p.m. ET. directing Anthropic to suspend all access to the models “by any foreign national. whether inside or outside the United States. including foreign national Anthropic employees.”.
To make sure the order was followed immediately, Anthropic disabled the models for all of its customers. At the same time, it said none of its other models would be affected.
The move landed unexpectedly just days after Anthropic unveiled Fable 5 and Mythos 5. describing them as state-of-the-art across a number of different industry benchmarks. Fable 5. in particular. was pitched as a first for the company: the first time it released such an advanced offering to the public. paired with new safeguards designed to block responses in specific high-risk areas.
Fable 5 and Mythos 5 were built on the release of Claude Mythos Preview. which had captured Wall Street and government officials with what Anthropic called advanced cybersecurity capabilities in April. Anthropic also said it did not plan to make the model generally available. Instead, it limited the rollout to a select group of companies as part of a cybersecurity initiative called Project Glasswing.
In its Friday statement, Anthropic said the government did not provide specific details about its national security concern. The company apologized to its customers for the disruption, but drew a sharp line around process.
“As we have stated publicly, 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,” Anthropic said. “This action does not adhere to those principles.”
The abrupt shutdown adds to an already tense relationship between Anthropic and U.S. national security officials. Earlier this year, a clash with the Department of Defense spilled into public view. After negotiations between the two organizations collapsed. the Department of Defense declared Anthropic a supply chain risk—an accusation the article describes as reserved historically for foreign adversaries. The designation requires defense contractors to certify that they will not use Anthropic’s Claude models in their work with the military.
Anthropic sued the Trump administration to reverse its blacklisting, and litigation is still ongoing.
Taken together. the timing is what makes Friday’s decision sting: Fable 5 was framed as a public milestone. and Mythos capabilities had been marketed as a breakthrough—only for access to be suspended at an hour-stamped moment after a directive tied to “national security authorities.” Anthropic now faces the same question its customers are left with: what happens to the work built around these systems. and when—if ever—permission can return on terms that both sides say should be transparent and grounded in technical facts.
Anthropic Fable 5 Mythos 5 export control U.S. government national security foreign national access Project Glasswing Claude Mythos Preview Department of Defense supply chain risk
So basically they turned it off because “national security” but didn’t say anything… cool cool.
I don’t get it. If it was made public, why would they be able to shut it off for foreign people only? Like aren’t models already everywhere? Seems fishy.
Mythos 5 and Fable 5 went dark overnight and everyone’s acting surprised. Probably someone leaked the code or it was too good for the wrong countries, idk. Also “foreign national employees” part is weird because my cousin works for a contractor and he said that never happens.
This is one of those things where it sounds like they got told to comply at 5:21 pm like that’s a real clock moment. Export control makes it sound like they were shipping it like weapons lol. So now only the “other models” work?? That’s convenient. Wonder if they’ll just rebrand it and pretend it’s not the same.