The US government. might have torpedoed Anthropic’s plans for its most powerful model yet. And the company is hoping it’s merely a fluke.
In the AI race, there’s a major influencing factor that the companies have overlooked- the US government.
Anthropic has been in hot water with the Trump Administration recently. Previously, it refused to allow the military department to access (and use) its AI model for fully autonomous systems and domestic surveillance.
The government’s response was as brutal as the rejection- it placed Anthropic on a supply chain blocklist. The tides can be felt once the block comes into effect later this year.
And for the AI giant, that was merely the beginning.
It spent a good part of the past few weeks flaunting the launch of Mythos 5 and subsequently, Fable 5- two models built on the foundation of Mythos Preview, which has been deemed too dangerous for public release. While only a select few government agencies had access to Mythos 5, Fable 5 was released for general use- of course, with specific guardrails in place. Because the risks of these Mythos-class models are plenty- one being escalation in sophisticated cyberattacks.
However, those guardrails might have failed.
Owing to the reports, the US export control forwarded a directive to the AI powerhouse- a massive blow to the hype that was still gaining momentum. Anthropic must pull back on ‘who can access’ its models. If you dive into the technicalities, the administration is ordering the company to suspend foreign access to the two models (inside and outside the US), including Anthropic employees who are foreign nationals.
The basis? National security concerns. Because the rumors have scratched an itch- the government believes there is a method of bypassing or jailbreaking Fable. It’s all verbal evidence, according to an Anthropic spokesperson. And the real reason might be something else.
The organization did demand greater US oversight, especially in blocking models with unacceptable risks. But it believes this measure is being taken without actual facts.
But until now, Anthropic has entailed a single fear: its Mythos model falling into the wrong hands. This fear might ultimately materialize. So, it’s moving with caution. It has disabled Mythos 5 and Fable 5 for all customers for now, hoping it’s a misunderstanding on the government’s part.
If not? This directive could drastically change the future for American AI companies- especially the administration’s microscope looming over them.
