Anthropic Just Got Hit by an Export Rule That Makes No Sense

Anthropic has had a rough week. The Trump administration abruptly ordered the company to cut access to its newest AI models—Fable 5 and Mythos 5—for all foreign nationals. That includes users inside the US and even some of Anthropic’s own employees.

To my knowledge, this is the first time US export controls have been used to control access to an AI model in this way. The administration hasn’t publicly explained the legal basis for the order. In a statement on its website, Anthropic said the government cited “national security authorities” to justify “an export control action.” That’s about as vague as it gets.

The move forced Anthropic to block access to these models for everyone, not just foreign nationals. The company has spent most of this week fighting to get them back online. It’s a mess.

I’ve been following export controls for years, and this feels different. Usually, these rules target hardware or specific technologies with clear military applications. AI models are squishier. The government is essentially saying that the model itself is a controlled export, and anyone who isn’t a US person can’t use it. But the model is running on Anthropic’s servers in the US. The foreign nationals aren’t taking anything physical out of the country. They’re just sending prompts.

This sets a dangerous precedent. If the government can shut down access to an AI model for foreign nationals without clear justification, what stops them from doing it to other companies? OpenAI, Google, Meta—they all have models used by people worldwide. This could ripple across the industry.

Anthropic is pushing back, but they’re in a tough spot. They can’t exactly refuse a direct order from the administration. But they also can’t run a business if their products are arbitrarily blocked. The silence from the government on the legal reasoning is deafening.

I’ll be watching this closely. If this becomes a pattern, the AI landscape is going to look very different. And not in a good way.