US Commerce Department Lifts Export Controls on Anthropic's AI Models

Anthropic has said the US commerce department has lifted export controls on its Fable and Mythos AI models, less than ⁠three weeks after ⁠the company ​was ordered to suspend access to its most advanced AI models over national security risks.

“We’ll begin restoring access tomorrow,” Anthropic said in a statement on X late on Tuesday.

US authorities blocked access to the models on national security grounds several weeks ago, but in a letter to Anthropic seen by Reuters, US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick, said the export controls were withdrawn and that a licence ‌was no longer required for their export.

“Anthropic has agreed to proactively detect and address security ​risks associated with the models; to work diligently with the US government on protocols and standards and releases for Mythos, Fable, and future models; and to inform the US government of any malicious activity,” Lutnick said.

The US has stepped up oversight ⁠of new AI releases to identify potential threats amid concerns that the advanced models that are driving the sector’s boom and major ⁠capital investments could be misused by military intelligence users in China, Russia or other ​countries of concern.

Anthropic abruptly ‌disabled its Mythos 5 ‌and Fable 5 models following the export-control order on 12 June. On ‌Friday, the US government allowed it to release Mythos 5 to some “trusted” US organisations, partially reversing the order.

The US government’s vetting of ⁠which companies can gain access to the models has drawn criticism.

OpenAI ​CEO Sam Altman ​said last week ​that extensive safety testing “is not a bad idea. I just ​don’t like the ‌idea of the government ​picking the ​customers.”

ChatGPT-maker OpenAI delayed a full public launch of GPT-5.6 at the US government’s request, limiting its access to a small group of vetted partners.

With Reuters and Agence France-Presse