Following the Donald Trump administration's decision to prohibit foreign nationals from accessing Anthropic's Mythos and Fable 5 artificial intelligence (AI) models on national security grounds, the US company behind Claude disabled the two models for all users worldwide, including in India.
David Sacks Comments on Export Controls
David Sacks, Co-Chair of the US President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, stated in a social media post on Saturday that the Trump administration is urging Anthropic to address a reported jailbreak in its Fable AI model. He expressed hope that the export control, issued over national security concerns, could be lifted quickly.
Anthropic's Response and Government Concerns
Anthropic had recently launched its latest AI model, Claude Fable 5, earlier this week. In its June 9 release statement, the company acknowledged that "releasing a model this capable comes with risks" and stated it had introduced safeguards to block its use for certain topics. However, the US government alleged that a "jailbreak" exists, allowing users to bypass those safeguards.
Anthropic issued a statement on June 12, saying: "The US government, citing national security authorities, has issued an export control directive to suspend all access to Fable 5 and Mythos 5 by any foreign national, whether inside or outside the United States, including foreign national Anthropic employees." The company noted that the directive was received at 5:21 pm ET and did not provide specific details of the national security concern. Anthropic believes the government is concerned about a method of bypassing, or "jailbreaking" Fable 5, which could allow the model to be used to find software vulnerabilities or access illegal information such as making weapons or explosives.
Anthropic reviewed a demonstration of the technique and found it identified a small number of previously known, minor vulnerabilities. The company stated: "These vulnerabilities all appear relatively simple, and we have found that other publicly available models are able to discover them as well without requiring a bypass." Anthropic apologized for the disruption and expressed belief that this is a misunderstanding, working to restore access as soon as possible.
Sacks' Accusations and Administration's Stance
David Sacks claimed a "highly credible trusted partner of both Anthropic and the USG who was testing Fable came forward with a jailbreak of those guardrails." According to Sacks, the administration asked Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei to fix the issue or de-deploy the model, but "Dario refused." Sacks criticized Anthropic's public response, stating: "In their blog post, Anthropic defended its decision by saying the jailbreak isn't serious. That is not what the trusted partner and the USG believe."
Sacks argued that this stance is inconsistent with Anthropic's branding as an AI safety company, noting the firm had previously promoted Mythos as a "cyberweapon" that needed regulation. He wrote: "It's difficult to fathom how they could claim a jailbreak allowing operability of a cyber weapon could be defined as not 'serious.'" Sacks said the export control was issued "reluctantly" and expressed surprise at Anthropic's lack of cooperation with what he called a "reasonable safety request." He added that the administration values Anthropic's technical capabilities and believes the issue "should be easily resolved," with the ball "in Anthropic's court." The hope is that Anthropic remediates the safety issue, the export control is lifted, and Fable returns to general release "as soon as possible."
Sacks also pushed back on speculation linking the action to earlier disputes, stating: "Those trying to misdirect and tie this action to the prior Anthropic issues are wrong. The Administration values Anthropic's technical capabilities and feels that this issue, while serious, should be easily resolved."
Pentagon's Support
Pentagon's Chief Information Officer, Kirsten Davies, also took to X to double down on the administration's aggressive stance, stating they "fully support" the decision of the President and the Secretary of War in "prioritizing national security and the security of our warfighters, DIB partners, critical infrastructure, international partners and allies." She emphasized: "Some things are simply more important than revenue cycles, clickbait, and pre-IPO valuation. America First. Always."
