Lifting the ban on Claude Mythos 5: 100 US organizations gain access, while Fable 5 is still pending.
On Friday, the U.S. Department of Commerce officially lifted export restrictions on Anthropic's Claude Mythos 5 model. This decision opens access to the advanced technology for more than 100 American organizations, including major corporations and government agencies. This concludes a two-week standoff between the Trump administration and the AI developer, which arose amid national security concerns.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick explained in a letter to Anthropic's Chief Technology Officer Tom Brown that a license is no longer required to transfer Mythos 5 to companies on the Appendix A list. "I have concluded that the existing safeguards allow certain trusted partners to access the model," Lutnick noted. Recall that Mythos was previously used exclusively within the Glasswing program—a vulnerability research project involving about 150 organizations from over 15 countries, where the model identified errors in classified systems within hours.
Fable 5: The Next Step in Question
However, the fate of Fable 5—Anthropic's most powerful public AI model—remains uncertain. According to sources close to the negotiations, the release process has moved forward, but specific timelines have not yet been announced. Unlike Mythos, access to Fable 5 was previously open to all subscribers, and its temporary suspension caused significant industry backlash.
The situation is complicated by new regulatory initiatives. On June 2, an executive order was signed that opens a voluntary channel for federal review of advanced AI models. Developers can now submit their solutions for cybersecurity checks 30 days before launch. This effectively creates a new system of restrictions that could affect not only chip exports but also access to the models themselves.
Notably, OpenAI followed a similar path: on Friday, the company restricted access to the most powerful version of GPT-5.6, called Sol, to about 20 partners who received state approval. The weaker versions, Terra and Luna, became available to the general public.
Initially, the blocks were driven by concerns that the technology could reach China. Attention was focused on SK Telecom—a South Korean operator added to the Glasswing list in early June, whose access was then restricted. SK Telecom denied any connection to China.
Many leaders of major cybersecurity companies, including former Facebook security chief Alex Stamos, urged authorities to abandon restrictive measures. An open letter was signed by executives from Nvidia, Adobe, Zoom, and other giants.
My analysis: Lifting the ban on Mythos 5 is a compromise that shows Washington recognizes the strategic importance of AI for national security and the economy. However, Fable 5 remains a "gray area": its broad availability before the block created a precedent that is now being reconsidered. If the model does not receive approval in the coming weeks, it could signal a shift toward stricter control over public AI tools, which would harm innovation and make the world even more dependent on Washington's decisions.