Anthropic is suspending its new AI models after an intervention by the Trump Administration
The emergency shutdown of the latest AI designs, announced by Anthropic late Friday, comes shortly after Donald Trump ordered surveillance of the technology, according to The New York Times.
Anthropic said the US government has ordered the suspension of all foreign nationals' access to its Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models, citing national security reasons.
The company revealed the order in a social media post, saying it “must suddenly disable them for all our customers to ensure compliance.” Foreign nationals working for Anthropic are also affected by the suspension.
The order came from the Commerce Department, according to an anonymous source familiar with the matter, cited by the NYT. It is not yet clear how long these restrictions will last.
A new dispute between Anthropic and the Trump Administration
It's the second time the Trump administration has targeted the San Francisco-based company. In March, after discussions about how Anthropic's technology could be used in the military and intelligence fields, the Pentagon declared the company an unacceptable risk to the supply chain, which could limit its use by federal agencies.
Restrictions on the sale of key technologies to countries like China are common, but the current order restricting the use of Anthropic's technology is unusually broad. This measure could, in theory, prevent employees who are citizens of allied nations such as Canada or the UK from working on it.
The decision could also cause significant problems for technology development at Anthropic, which, along with OpenAI, is one of the most influential artificial intelligence companies in the world. Although Mythos and Fable 5 are new, they were considered a significant improvement over previous AI models.
Anthropic introduced Claude Mythos in April, but said it could not make the system public because it could become a powerful tool for hackers looking for ways to break into computer networks.
The model quickly became a cause for concern in both Washington and Silicon Valley, as experts feared artificial intelligence posed a new and more dangerous threat to computer networks.
The company provided the system to 40 critical infrastructure organizations to fix the vulnerabilities. Reactions from researchers were divided: some considered the model an alarming threat, while others saw it as a useful development for both defense and offense.
In Friday's statement, Anthropic indicated that the government's decision was an overreaction, saying: “We apologize for this disruption of service to our customers. We believe it was a misunderstanding and are working to restore access as soon as possible.”
After the Mythos presentation, the White House considered a new form of surveillance. Last week, President Trump signed an executive order requiring companies to voluntarily give the government the right to oversee new systems before they go public.
