CNN reported on June 13, 2026 that Anthropic disabled access to its most capable AI systems after the US government ordered the company to suspend all use by foreign nationals of Mythos 5 and Fable 5 over national security concerns tied to cybersecurity vulnerabilities.
What CNN says the government ordered
- The directive to Anthropic’s Mythos 5 and Fable 5 models is described as one of the furthest-reaching US government actions taken in response to advanced AI model capabilities.
- Anthropic said the government cited “national security” issues but did not provide specific details about the concerns.
- CNN cited Axios reporting that the Commerce Department directive would require Anthropic to obtain a license for the export, re-export or domestic transfer of those models.
- The Commerce Department did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment.
How Anthropic says it complied
- Anthropic said in a Friday evening statement it is removing access to the models for everyone while complying with the foreign-national ban.
- CNN reports Anthropic could not filter users by nationality in real time, so the practical effect is a global shutdown—including for foreign nationals working at Anthropic.
- Anthropic disagreed with the decision, arguing a narrow potential jailbreak should not trigger recall of a commercial model deployed to hundreds of millions of people.
- Anthropic added that if the standard were applied across the industry, it “would essentially halt all new model deployments for all frontier model providers.”
Jailbreak and vulnerability context in the piece
- Anthropic believed the government became aware of a method of “jailbreaking” Fable 5—getting around internal safety guardrails.
- Anthropic said it reviewed a demonstration identifying a small number of previously known, minor vulnerabilities that other publicly available models can discover without requiring a bypass.
- CNN notes Anthropic had instituted safeguards for its newest models to reduce cybersecurity misuse, received user complaints those guardrails were too strict, and worked with the US government to red-team Fable safeguards.
Broader policy backdrop CNN highlights
- Mythos has spooked the US government and Wall Street with capabilities experts say can exploit cybersecurity vulnerabilities at an unprecedented pace; Anthropic initially limited Mythos to key partners to “secure the world’s most critical software.”
- Anthropic released Fable 5 last week as a version of Mythos deemed safer for general use.
- The model helped spark a recent executive order asking companies to voluntarily share new models with advanced cyber capabilities with the government up to 30 days before providing access to other partners.
- CNN recounts earlier Trump administration actions declaring Anthropic a “supply chain risk” in military dealings, Anthropic’s lawsuit over that designation, continued White House contact, and federal workarounds to keep accessing Anthropic models after Mythos.
Primary source: CNN — Anthropic suspends all access to Mythos model after US government bans foreign nationals use (June 13, 2026).