US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick sent a letter on June 12, 2026 to Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei ordering an immediate halt to access by all foreign nationals, including the company's own foreign employees, to its newest models Claude Fable 5 and Claude Mythos 5. Anthropic complied and disabled both models for all customers worldwide.
June 12, 2026 · Anthropic × US Commerce Dept.
US Export Law Pulls the Plug on Anthropic's Flagship AI — Worldwide
Invoking the 2018 Export Control Reform Act for the first time ever on an AI model, Commerce ordered Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5 cut off outside the US. Anthropic responded by disabling both models for every user on the planet — no resumption until licensed.
1st
ever application of the 2018 Export Control Reform Act to an AI model
2
flagship models disabled — Fable 5 & the more advanced Mythos 5
80+
cybersecurity experts signed an open letter urging the curb be lifted
30d
customer data retention for the Fable class
Scope of the order: how far the cutoff reaches
Each block = one tier of restricted access. The law's reach widened with every step.
Foreign destinations
Step 1
Foreign nationals in US
Foreign destinations
Step 2
Disabled for ALL users worldwide
Foreign nationals in US
Foreign destinations
Anthropic's response
The dispute in one line
Government
Found a method to bypass Fable 5's cyber safeguards — a national-security risk that could aid military or intelligence use by China, Russia and others.
Anthropic
A narrow, non-universal jailbreak; the flaw is minor and just as detectable in other public models. Red-teamed with the US government and UK AISI — and approved.
DEFENDERS OF THE MODELS
Similar capabilities are used routinely; Fable 5 offered no special edge
Users had complained the safeguards were overly broad
80+ experts: this standard could halt new model deployments industry-wide
RISKS & FALLOUT
Abrupt shutoff left customers confused; some eye alternatives like GPT-5.5
Direct business hit for Anthropic as an IPO is reportedly being prepared
Could spread to rivals such as OpenAI — a precedent for AI regulation
Timeline toward a resolution
Jun 9
Claude Fable 5 released with hardened safeguards
→
Jun 12
Letter arrives; both models disabled worldwide
→
Jun 15–16
Technical staff meet at the Commerce Department
→
Next
Amodei & Lutnick may engage directly at venues such as the G7
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