The US government just did something that has no real precedent in the tech industry: it issued what amounts to an export-control-style directive against a domestic AI company. On June 13, the Commerce Department ordered Anthropic to restrict access to its AI models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, for all foreign nationals, citing national security concerns tied to a jailbreak vulnerability.
Anthropic’s response was to take both models offline entirely. Rather than selectively blocking foreign users, the company pulled the plug for everyone.
The backstory is messier than it looks
The June directive is the latest escalation in a months-long standoff between the Trump administration and one of the most prominent AI companies in the world.
Back in February 2026, President Trump ordered federal agencies to stop using Anthropic technology altogether. The Pentagon went further, labeling Anthropic a supply-chain risk to national security. That designation triggered extensive legal disputes and, by some estimates, cost Anthropic roughly $200 million in federal contract losses.
