Trump Orders Block on US AI Technology for All Foreign Nationals

Anthropic, a former AI tool supplier for the US military, is back in the spotlight after introducing its ‘Mythos’ model. The advanced model is touted as being able to both fix and detect hidden vulnerabilities in digital systems. Many countries have warned banks that the Mythos model could be exploited by cybercriminals to identify system weaknesses and launch cybercrime campaigns, causing widespread concern over national security. Anthropic had to delay the official launch of Mythos, and now its most advanced models, Mythos 5 and Fable 5, have been forcibly withdrawn. Anthropic announced on Friday (12/6) that access to Mythos 5 and Fable 5 has been blocked for all users. The decision followed a firm order from the Trump administration. Anthropic said it received an export control directive to suspend access to Fable 5 and Mythos 5 for all foreign nationals, without being given specific details about the national security concerns. The company stated the government believes there is a method to bypass, or ‘jailbreak’, the safeguards that would prevent Fable 5 from being used to identify software vulnerabilities. The order came just as previous disputes between Trump officials and Anthropic, which is planning an IPO, were showing signs of easing in some parts of the government. Anthropic’s relationship with the government soured earlier this year after it refused to allow the US military to use its AI models for domestic surveillance and fully autonomous weapons systems. The government responded by placing Anthropic on a supply chain blacklist, set to take effect later this year. This action also marks a major escalation in US efforts to curb adversarial foreign AI capabilities. For years, US export controls focused on chips and tools that support AI, not on restricting foreign access to the AI itself. Anthropic said the government only provided ‘oral evidence of a narrow, non-universal jailbreak’. The company stated, ‘We do not agree that a finding of a narrow potential jailbreak should be grounds for withdrawing a commercial model that has been used by hundreds of millions of people.’ The government directive and Anthropic’s response highlight growing tensions between AI developers and regulators over how to assess risks from so-called ‘jailbreaks,’ or methods used to bypass model safeguards. Anthropic has recently called for greater US oversight of AI, including the ability to block models with unacceptable risks. However, the company said the government’s action on Friday did not follow principles of fair, evidence-based regulation. Pentagon Chief Information Officer Kirsten Davies said in a post on X that the Department of Defense supports national security priorities, adding, ‘Some things are indeed more important than revenue cycles, clickbait, and pre-IPO valuations. America First. Always.’