Anthropic announced Friday that it will abruptly disable its most advanced artificial intelligence models, Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5, for all users after receiving a direct order from the U.S. government. The company said the directive, received at 5:21 p.m. ET, requires it to suspend access for foreign nationals both inside and outside the United States, citing national security concerns.
The order signals a significant escalation in U.S. efforts to control the distribution of frontier AI capabilities. By targeting not only foreign nationals abroad but also those within U.S. borders, the government appears to be closing a potential loophole where non-citizens could access cutting-edge models while physically present in the country. The scope of the suspension remains unclear, but the directive applies broadly to any foreign national.
Technical details of how Anthropic will enforce the suspension are not yet public. The company stated it will abruptly disable the models for all users, implying a blanket shutdown rather than a targeted access control system. This suggests no immediate mechanism exists to distinguish between citizens and foreign nationals at the inference level, forcing a complete halt to service.
Anthropic has not disclosed a timeline for restoring access or whether it plans to implement nationality-based access controls. The company's statement provided no indication of a workaround or phased approach, leaving enterprises and researchers that rely on Fable 5 and Mythos 5 without guidance on alternative models or timelines.
The order reflects growing U.S. government scrutiny of advanced AI as a dual-use technology with potential national security implications. This move follows a pattern of export controls on AI hardware and software, but marks one of the first direct actions against a specific company's model access for foreign users within American jurisdiction.