Anthropic Restores Claude Fable 5 Access After US Lifts Export Controls on Top AI Models

Anthropic confirmed Tuesday that the U.S. Department of Commerce has lifted export controls on Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5, its two most powerful large language models. The company said in a social media post that it will begin restoring access to Fable 5 on Wednesday, ending a weeks long freeze ordered by the Trump administration.

The export controls, imposed earlier this year, barred foreign nationals from accessing Fable 5 and Mythos 5 and effectively took the models offline for all users. Anthropic had been negotiating with the Commerce Department since the restriction was announced.

Mythos 5 remains limited to select partners

While Fable 5 will be available to a broad user base starting Wednesday, Mythos 5 will not follow the same path. The company stated that Mythos will remain exclusive to select companies, suggesting a tiered deployment strategy that mirrors its earlier handling of high capability frontier models. Anthropic did not specify which partners will gain access or when broader availability might occur.

Key details from the announcement include:

• Fable 5 access restoration begins Wednesday, June 30, 2026.
• Mythos 5 is cleared for use but reserved for select enterprise customers.
• The Commerce Department issued the lifting of controls after weeks of review.
• Anthropic thanked users for patience and partners who assisted in redeployment.

Identity verification may gate access to Fable 5

Anthropic is simultaneously rolling out Know Your Customer (KYC) identity verification for certain Claude capabilities. The company has selected Persona Identities as its verification partner. Users accessing Fable 5 may be required to submit a government issued photo ID and a live selfie, a process that Anthropic says typically takes under five minutes. The verification data is held by Persona, not stored on Anthropic systems, though Anthropic can access records during appeals. The company said the data will not be used to train models.

It remains unclear whether Fable 5 will be available to users outside the United States. The export controls were specifically a national security measure, and their lifting may not automatically mean global availability. Anthropic's reference to compliance and safety obligations in its KYC documentation suggests regional restrictions could persist.

What comes next for the models is still being determined. Anthropic said it will share an update soon after Wednesday's restoration. The timeline for Mythos 5's broader rollout has not been announced. The episode highlights the growing tension between AI capability deployment and national security export controls, a dynamic likely to shape future model releases across the industry.