U.S. News: Part of Anthropic Model Ban Is Rolled Back --- U.S. allows trusted partners to access Mythos 5 version; Fable 5 limits kept

“WASHINGTON -- The Trump administration is allowing Anthropic to reoffer one of its banned AI models to trusted companies and government partners, a key step toward rolling back restrictions that fueled industry concern about ad hoc federal regulation of artificial intelligence.

 

Anthropic can allow dozens of companies and partners trusted by the government to access Mythos 5, one of the two models that the administration banned for foreign use two weeks ago, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in a Friday letter to Anthropic Chief Compute Officer Tom Brown, a copy of which was viewed by The Wall Street Journal.

 

Fable 5, a general-purpose version of Anthropic's powerful Mythos model that was also banned, remains restricted, and restrictions on Mythos 5 still apply to entities that aren't trusted partners.

 

The olive branch from the administration is the result of two weeks of talks led by Lutnick and Brown to address the government's security concerns, which were sparked by Amazon researchers who found a way to evade Fable's safeguards.

 

"These efforts have yielded significant progress. In addition, Anthropic has committed to work with the U.S. government on protocols and standards and releases for the covered models," Lutnick said in the letter.

 

Semafor previously reported on the administration's decision.

 

Anthropic had previously said that it felt it had adequate safeguards in place and didn't think the issue raised by the Amazon researchers was as serious as some cybersecurity experts had claimed. The company has feuded with the Trump administration for months over AI usage in the military and Anthropic's past ties to nonprofits that are big donors to liberal causes.

 

President Trump recently praised Anthropic Chief Executive Dario Amodei's response to the model ban.

 

"He responded very responsibly," Trump told Axios, adding that Amodei seemed "nice" and "smart" when the pair took part in a Group of Seven AI meeting in France. Earlier this year, Trump called Anthropic a "radical-left, woke company" when the Pentagon designated the company a security risk.

 

The Commerce Department had restricted all usage of Fable 5 and Mythos 5 by foreign individuals or entities, prompting Anthropic to shut down all access to comply with the unprecedented rule. It marked the government's biggest intervention in the rapidly evolving AI industry.

 

Mythos 5 was restricted to trusted partners before the government ban. Mythos Preview, an earlier version of Mythos that had been gradually made available to companies and governments managing critical infrastructure, has remained an option to users, but the Trump administration's concerns about model safety have prompted concerns across the industry.

 

On Friday, OpenAI said it was delaying the public rollout of its latest models, known as GPT-5.6, because of government security concerns. The company is letting trusted partners access it with government approval and hopes to expand access. Like Mythos, the models have demonstrated the ability to efficiently find software bugs, capabilities that could be used in cyberattacks.” [1]

 

1. U.S. News: Part of Anthropic Model Ban Is Rolled Back --- U.S. allows trusted partners to access Mythos 5 version; Fable 5 limits kept. Ramkumar, Amrith.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 27 June 2026: A3.