Anthropic said on Friday that it has cut off access to two powerful artificial intelligence (AI) models following an order by the United States government citing national security concerns.
The sudden halt marks a major escalation in Anthropic’s growing confrontation with the Trump administration following failed talks earlier this year over potential US military and intelligence use of its technology.
The order is potentially a major blow to Anthropic’s plans to take the company public later this year.
What did Anthropic say about the block?
The San Francisco-headquartered company said in a statement that it has received instructions to block its Cloud Fable 5 and Cloud Mythos 5 for all foreign nationals.
Fable 5 and Mythos 5 are the latest versions of the cloud AI model, released on June 9. The former is widely available to the public, while the latter is mostly limited to verified organizations.
The company said the ban applies to aliens, “whether inside or outside the United States, including Foreign National Anthropic employees.”
However, Anthropic said it has blocked access for all customers for now to ensure compliance.
“Our understanding is that [US] “The government believes it has discovered a method to bypass or ‘jailbreak’ the Fable,” the statement continued.
It added that the company’s own tests found only a small number of previously known bugs that were “minor vulnerabilities”.
Anthropic said it is complying with the directive, but disagrees that the U.S. government’s findings “should be cause for a recall of a commercial model deployed to millions of people.”
It added that if this rule were applied to AI platforms, “we believe it would essentially halt the deployment of all new models for all frontier model providers.”
Why are the US government and Anthropic at loggerheads?
Anthropic’s relationship with the US government fell apart this year when the company refused to allow the military to use its AI models for domestic surveillance and fully autonomous weapons systems.
In response, the Pentagon added Anthropic to its supply chain blacklist, which is scheduled to take effect later this year and could severely limit the company’s federal contracts.
This latest export ban is the Trump administration’s second major action against an AI firm in just a few months.
new York Times The order has been described as “unusually broad”, noting that it could prevent Anthropic’s employees in partner countries, including Canada or the United Kingdom, from using AI models.
Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order requiring federal scrutiny of the most advanced AI systems for national security risks up to a month before public release.
Up to this point, US export controls have primarily targeted AI chips and hardware, rather than limiting foreign access to AI models.
The block could potentially harm Anthropic’s plans for a public listing or IPO at a valuation of $1 trillion as early as 2026.
The ban has raised new questions among investors about regulatory risks and the company’s ability to maintain its technological edge.
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Edited by: Roshni Majumdar