U.S. Commerce Department permits limited re-deployment of Anthropic's Mythos 5 AI model
The Commerce Department has authorized Anthropic to restore access to its Mythos 5 model for about 100 vetted U.S. organizations, citing confidence in the company’s safety safeguards.
The U.S. Commerce Department said it will allow Anthropic to redeploy its Mythos 5 artificial-intelligence system to a select group of roughly 100 customers and partners, including government agencies and private firms. In a letter to the company, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick expressed confidence that Anthropic’s guardrails are sufficient for trusted users to access the powerful model.
Anthropic announced on X that the limited rollout will support organizations that defend critical infrastructure. Sources familiar with the plan said the restored access is intended for defensive cyber-security purposes.
The decision follows a prior order that forced Anthropic to shut down both Mythos 5 and its newer Fable 5 model after officials raised national-security concerns. Those concerns centered on the possibility that users might bypass built-in safeguards, prompting the use of export-control regulations to block foreign-national access.
Anthropic has continued discussions with the Commerce Department and the Office of the National Cyber Director to address those concerns while seeking to reinstate broader access to Fable 5.
The move comes as rival OpenAI announced a phased release of its GPT-5.6 series, a strategy it said aligns with the government’s request for a more controlled rollout. OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman described the staggered launch as “bad news” for the company’s original open-access plans.
Both companies have indicated they will work with the administration to develop a more robust framework for vetting advanced AI models before public release.