Trump administration lifts limits on Anthropic’s new AI models

The Trump administration lifted Tuesday the restrictions placed on Anthropic’s new Fable and Mythos models, restoring access just over two weeks since the export controls on the artificial intelligence models were put in place.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced the decision on X, writing the agency has “worked closely with Anthropic to analyze and approve Fable 5 to ensure alignment across the US Government and strengthen America’s leadership in AI.”

Anthropic confirmed it was notified of the decision for Fable 5 and Mythos 5 and will begin restoring the models Wednesday.

“We’re grateful to our users for their patience, and to everyone who worked with us on redeploying the models,” the company wrote on X.

Lutnick informed Anthropic co-founder Tom Brown via a letter obtained by The Hill Tuesday.

“A license is no longer required for the export, reexport, or in-country transfer, including deemed export or deemed reexport, of the Mythos or Fable models,” Lutnick wrote.

The Trump administration sent Anthropic a federal export control order earlier this month, prompting Anthropic to abruptly pull its newest Claude Mythos 5 and Fable models just three days after their release.

The models were both based on Anthropic’s first Mythos model, which the company initially opted not to release to the broader public amid concerns it could supercharge hacking capabilities.

Fable 5 was released to the public with safeguards in place meant to protect against uses the company considered dangerous, while a new version of Mythos was provided to a small group of cyber-defenders and infrastructure providers with fewer guardrails.

Several outlets reported at the time the order came after Amazon CEO Andy Jassy reached out to the administration with concerns about a potential method of “jailbreaking,” or bypassing, the guardrails on Fable. Amazon is invested in Anthropic.

A source close to Anthropic previously said the Trump administration gave the company 90 minutes to pull Fable, without providing any prior indication about a threat to national security.

Tuesday’s decision comes just days after the government approved Claude Mythos 5 for a small group of companies but did not lift the overall export controls. Tuesday’s approval means the models will be available to the general public.

The export controls prompted intense backlash from the AI policy community on the right and left, who argued the Trump administration was taking an “ad hoc” approach to AI policy that would hamper private AI development in the end.

Shortly before Lutnick’s announcement, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles thanked companies for working with the White House to implement President Trump’s latest AI cybersecurity order laying out a voluntary model testing process.

“This includes excellent work around advanced model access and guardrail testing and security. The government and private sector have worked together in a way we have never seen before and this foundation of America First is unprecedented,” Wiles wrote. “Our shared priority remains: get the best tech deployed as quickly and safely as possible.”

The government did not place legal binding export controls on OpenAI, but the firm announced the administration asked them to delay the public rollout of its newest GPT-5.6 model series.

The firm shared the models with a “small group of trusted partners,” and CEO Sam Altman said they are working towards a broader rollout in the coming weeks.

It is not clear exactly what prompted the government’s request.

This article was updated at 9:16 p.m. EDT.