The NewYorkTimes.com reported that “Anthropic said on Friday night that the U.S. government had ordered the company to suspend access for all foreign nationals to its Fable 5 and Mythos 5 artificial intelligence models, citing national security concerns.” The June 12, 2026 article entitled “U.S. Bars Foreigners From Using Anthropic’s Most Advanced A.I. Models” (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/12/technology/anthropic-mythos-fable5-blocked.html) included these comments from Reporters Cade Metz and Dustin Volz:
The company revealed the order in a social media post, saying that it “must abruptly disable Fable 5 and Mythos 5 for all our customers to ensure compliance.” Foreign nationals who work for Anthropic are also affected by the suspension.
The order to limit access to the new A.I. models came from the Commerce Department, said a person familiar with it who spoke on the condition of anonymity. It was unclear how long the restrictions would last.
The limits on foreigners represent a new chapter in Anthropic’s often prickly relationship with the federal government and are a highly unusual example of federal authorities’ dictating how a technology company can operate.
It is also the second time the Trump administration has targeted the company, which is based in San Francisco. In March, after tense talks over how Anthropic’s A.I. could be used in military and intelligence settings, the Pentagon said it had deemed Anthropic an unacceptable supply chain risk, potentially limiting its use by federal agencies.
Government restrictions on selling key technologies such as computer chips to countries such as China are common. But the order limiting who can use Anthropic’s technology is unusually expansive, and could in theory block Anthropic employees who are citizens of allied nations like Canada or Britain from working on it.
Interesting, but not surprising!
First published at https://www.vogelitlaw.com/blog/us-bars-foreign-countries-from-using-most-advanced-anthropic-ai-models