US Government Lifts Mythos 5 Ban for Select Organizations

Anthropic can now release its Claude Mythos 5 AI model to a select group of trusted US organizations. The US government authorized the partial reversal on Friday, two weeks after it ordered Anthropic to suspend access to Mythos 5 and Fable 5 over national security concerns. More than 100 companies and institutions will get access, including many Fortune 500 firms, according to a source familiar with the directive.

Anthropic disabled both models for all users on June 12 after the Trump administration issued an export control order. The government cited concerns that powerful AI systems could be misused by military intelligence actors in China, Russia, or other adversarial nations.

Mythos 5 Access Opens to Critical Infrastructure Operators

The government notified Anthropic that Mythos 5 - described as the company's strongest cybersecurity model - can be redeployed to organizations that operate and defend critical US infrastructure. Anthropic said it is restoring access quickly and continuing to work with the government to expand access to Mythos 5 and bring Fable 5 back for general use.

Mythos 5 and Fable 5 use the same underlying model. But Fable 5 is designed for wide public release, while Mythos 5 has certain safeguards removed for specialized security purposes.

Government Faces Backlash Over Vetting Process

The administration's criteria for selecting approved organizations remain opaque. "No one knows how these companies are picked and why everyone else is excluded," said John Coleman, legislative counsel for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. "This is putting too much power in the hands of the government. There's little transparency and it raises questions about the rule of law."

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also voiced concerns on X, writing that while extensive safety testing "is not a bad idea," he does not like "the idea of the government picking the customers."

Export License Requirements Lifted for Approved Firms

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirmed in a letter to Anthropic that approved companies and their non-US citizen employees no longer need an export license for Mythos 5. Licensing restrictions remain in place for organizations not on the approved list. Many of the approved companies are part of Anthropic's Project Glasswing, which includes about 100 tech companies and institutions.

The government is also moving toward allowing Anthropic to release Fable 5, though a timeline remains unclear. The partial reversal follows Trump's executive order this month establishing a voluntary framework requiring AI developers to offer "covered frontier models" to the government for up to 30 days before releasing them to trusted partners.

Anthropic's relationship with the administration has been rocky. The company previously refused to allow the US military to use its AI models for domestic surveillance and autonomous weapons systems. The government responded by placing Anthropic on a national security blacklist.

What Happens Next

Anthropic is working with the government to expand access to Mythos 5 and restore Fable 5 for general use. But no timeline exists for Fable's return. Kate Koren, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a former Commerce Department official, described the administration's order as "a practical interim step, but leaves unresolved the larger issue of how companies can widely release updated models." The longer US companies face barriers to releasing new models broadly, the more opportunity China has to close the gap, she said.