The Commerce Department has granted a narrow exception to its export control directive, allowing approved cyber defenders and infrastructure providers to access Anthropic's Mythos 5 model — but the public-facing Fable 5 remains blocked.
The U.S. Commerce Department has partially lifted restrictions on Anthropic’s Mythos 5 artificial intelligence model, approving access for a select group of organizations roughly two weeks after the Trump administration imposed an export control directive that barred any foreign national from using the model. [1]
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick sent a letter dated June 26th to Anthropic co-founder Tom Brown, who had been leading negotiations with the government, citing a “revision to the license requirements” on the basis that Anthropic had “worked with the U.S. government to address risks” associated with Mythos 5 and a related model, Fable 5. [1]
Anthropic spokesperson Danielle Ghiglieri confirmed the development, stating that the company had “received notice from the US government that Mythos 5, our strongest cybersecurity model, can be redeployed to a small group of cyber defenders and infrastructure providers.” [1] She added that Anthropic is “working to provision the approved set of providers and restore their access to Mythos 5 as quickly as possible.” [1]
The original June 12th directive, which blocked all foreign nationals — including Anthropic’s own non-U.S. employees — from accessing either model, has not been fully rescinded. [1] Instead, the government created a targeted exception for Mythos 5, under which both Anthropic employees who are not U.S. nationals and members of approved organizations who are not U.S. nationals are cleared to access the model. [1] Fable 5, the public-facing version of the Mythos-class model, remains in limbo with no announced timeline for a rollout agreement. [1]
In his letter, Lutnick wrote that Anthropic’s efforts had “yielded significant progress” and that Anthropic had “committed to work with the U.S. government on protocols and standards and releases for [Mythos-class models].” [1] He also reserved the right to “reevaluate and adjust the scope of license requirements” should circumstances change, and stated that all other requirements from the June 12th letter remain in effect. [1]
The arrangement mirrors a deal reached with OpenAI for its GPT-5.6 model, announced the same day, under which that model was also approved for a limited set of organizations rather than general availability. [1] Both companies are now operating under a restricted-preview model while they work with the administration toward broader access. [1]
Several factors contributed to pressure on the administration to act. Competing cybersecurity-focused AI models had been advancing — and in some cases outperforming Mythos 5 on cybersecurity benchmarks — while U.S. labs remained sidelined. [1] Concerns also mounted within the U.S. AI industry about AI progress in China during the period of restriction, and key government agencies including the National Security Agency had lost access to Mythos 5. [1]
OpenAI, in its GPT-5.6 blog post, stated that it does not believe “this kind of government access process should become the long-term default,” arguing it “keeps the best tools from users, developers, enterprises, cyber defenders, and global partners who need them.” [1] The company framed its participation as a short-term step toward broader availability while a formal cyber Executive Order framework is developed. [1]
For developers and enterprises that rely on Mythos 5 for cybersecurity applications, access now depends on whether their organization is among those approved by the government. General commercial and public availability, including through Fable 5, remains subject to further negotiations with the Trump administration. [1]
Sources
This article was drafted with AI from the cited sources and checked against them before publication. Spot an error? Let us know.
