Anthropic was forced to disable all access to its newest AI models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, after the U.S. Commerce Department used national security export controls to bar the company from distributing the models to any foreign national.
What the U.S. government order requires
The directive from the U.S. government goes beyond blocking access to people located outside the country. According to The New York Times, the order also applies to any foreign national inside the United States, including Anthropic's own non-citizen employees. This broad scope left the company with no practical way to comply while keeping the models running for anyone.
Why Anthropic disabled access for all users
Given the scope of the directive, Anthropic argued it had no choice but to disable the models for all users. The company clarified that access to its less powerful Claude models, including its latest Claude Opus 4.8 model, was not affected by the order.
According to Fortune, the company took the drastic step of shutting down access entirely because it could not reliably distinguish between U.S. citizens and foreign nationals among its user base while following the government's instructions.
Anthropic's response and next steps
Anthropic publicly addressed the situation on social media. "We apologize for this disruption to our customers," the company wrote in a post on X. "We believe this is a misunderstanding and are working to restore..." The company is currently in discussions with the U.S. government to resolve the issue.
The Wall Street Journal reported that all Fable 5 and Mythos 5 users have lost access after the Trump administration's ban on foreign use of these advanced AI models.
Our Take: A blunt tool for a complex problem
In our view, this situation highlights a growing tension between national security concerns and the global nature of AI development. The U.S. government's order is sweeping — it does not just block foreign adversaries but also affects allied researchers and even the company's own employees who are not U.S. citizens.
Anthropic's decision to disable the models for everyone, rather than risk violating the order, shows how difficult it is to enforce such broad restrictions. The company is calling it a misunderstanding, but the fact remains that two of its most advanced AI models are now offline for all users, including American citizens.
To put it plainly, this is a significant escalation in how the U.S. government treats advanced AI as a national security asset. It also raises questions about how American AI companies can operate globally when their most powerful tools are subject to such tight controls. For now, customers and researchers who relied on Fable 5 and Mythos 5 will have to wait — and hope that Anthropic can convince the government to narrow the scope of its order.
