Anthropic says Trump admin has lifted export controls on Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5

On Tuesday, Anthropic said the US Commerce Department had lifted export controls on its Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models, ending the latest dramatic standoff between the AI ​​company and the Trump administration.

“We are grateful to our users for their patience and to everyone who worked with us on redistributing the models,” Anthropic said. a post on x.

Anthropic disabled access to Fable 5 and Mythos 5 in mid-June to comply with a government export control directive citing “national security authorities.” The company said it was told to suspend all access to “any foreign national within or outside the United States, including foreign-born Anthropic employees.”

The government’s crackdown on Anthropic has coincided with a rapid increase in Chinese open-source models, which have proven to be nearly as capable as some of the most powerful US models and significantly cheaper. With the Trump administration limiting Anthropic’s rollout of its newest models, some tech executives and investors have expressed concern that Chinese developers are being given precious time in their efforts to catch up.

Tuesday’s announcement comes just days after U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick gave Anthropic permission to release Mythos 5 to a select group of companies and federal agencies. In a letter to the company viewed by CNBC, Lutnick said he had determined that “appropriate safeguards” were in place to allow certain “trusted partners” access to the model.

“Over the past two weeks, we have worked closely with Anthropic to analyze and validate Fable 5 to ensure compliance across the U.S. Government and strengthen America’s leadership in artificial intelligence,” Lutnick wrote. a post on x on Tuesday.

Anthropic said it will begin restoring access to Fable 5 on Wednesday.

Days before the export control, Anthropic launched the models and touted them as cutting-edge in a number of different industry benchmarks. Fable 5, in particular, marked the first time Anthropic introduced such an advanced offering to the public.

The company, which has been at odds with the White House for much of this year, rushed to Washington, DC, to meet with the Trump administration after receiving the export control directive on June 12. Anthropic remained tight-lipped in the weeks that followed, providing little public information about the status of the talks.

Tom Brown, co-founder of Anthropic reportedly He took the lead in negotiations with the Trump administration, replacing Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. Amodei has been a target of the administration for his outspoken views on AI safety and for being a strong supporter of Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.

Lutnick’s letter on Friday was addressed to Brown, not Amodei.

The incident caused confusion in the AI ​​industry; leaders say they lack knowledge of the government’s regulatory work and are unsure who makes decisions or influences the president; especially since David Sacks abandoned his role as crypto and AI czar earlier in the year.

The administration has signaled it will take a more active role in AI regulation when President Donald Trump signed an AI executive order in early June. The order, which did not clarify specific details, asked AI developers to voluntarily submit their models to the government to evaluate their capabilities before full release. It gave federal agencies 60 days to establish relevant frameworks and processes.

This has been challenging for AI companies, including OpenAI, which are trying to roll out model launches in the meantime.

On Friday, OpenAI announced three new models and said it was complying with the government’s request to initially limit distribution to “a small group of trusted partners.” OpenAI said it was previewing the capabilities of the models, including GPT-5.6, and shared its plans with the government ahead of Friday’s launch.

“We do not believe this type of government access process should become the long-term default,” OpenAI said in a post on Friday. “It hides the best tools from the users, developers, organizations, cyber defenders, and global partners who need them.”

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