The U.S. government blocks foreign access to Anthropic's AI models, sparking IPO concerns.

Huo Xing Finance reports that on June 13, according to Fortune, Anthropic has shut down full access to its latest AI models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, after the U.S. Department of Commerce imposed export controls citing national security, prohibiting access to any foreign national. The directive applies not only to individuals outside the United States but also to foreign nationals within the U.S. and Anthropic’s own non-U.S. citizen employees. Anthropic stated that due to the overly broad scope of the directive, it had no choice but to disable access to these models for all users; however, lower-capability models such as Claude Opus 4.8 remain unaffected. The policy has sparked strong reactions within the AI industry and among policy experts. Some view it as further punitive action by the Trump administration against Anthropic, which had previously instructed federal agencies to cease using Anthropic models and labeled the company a “supply chain risk.” AI policy expert Dean Ball said it is unclear whether this is a “legal battle” targeting Anthropic or an extreme national security hawkish stance—but in any case, it is absurd. Other critics argue that Anthropic is reaping the consequences of its own security narrative. Cybersecurity researcher Peter Girnus stated that if a company consistently describes its products as military-grade in every press release, the government will eventually treat them as such. He believes Anthropic itself wrote the legal premise and turned it into a brand. Gary Marcus, a critic of the AI industry, argues that the government’s action lacks logic and may prompt Chinese-born AI researchers working at Anthropic, OpenAI, and other labs to return to China, while causing investors to question whether U.S.-based AI companies remain a safe bet. Anthropic secretly filed for an IPO earlier this month, with its most recent funding round valuing the company at $965 billion. This export control decision may dampen investor enthusiasm for Anthropic’s IPO, as concerns grow that continued government restrictions on Anthropic’s models could hinder its ability to remain at the forefront of AI development. Some observers also suggest that individuals concerned about AI posing existential risks to humanity may even welcome this decision, as it could slow the pace of AI advancement.