The United States has removed the requirement for Anthropic to obtain a special license before exporting its Mythos and Fable models internationally. This restriction had effectively blocked public access to what are widely recognized as the most advanced AI systems ever released. The AI company announced it will begin restoring access to the models on Wednesday, July 1.

On June 12, the U.S. government added these products to its list of export-restricted technologies, which meant they could no longer be made available to foreign nationals without specific approval. Complying with this rule proved impractical on a large scale, forcing Anthropic to completely cut off public access to the models. After weeks of negotiations, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick stated that Anthropic “has agreed to proactively detect and address security risks associated with the models; to work diligently with the U.S. government on protocols and standards for releases of Mythos, Fable, and future models; and to inform the U.S. government of any malicious activity.”

Anthropic had already voluntarily pledged to do much of this months before the export rule was even created. This is one reason cybersecurity experts were skeptical about the restrictions from the start. To them, the ban appeared less like a genuine security measure and more like a form of leverage—a way for the Trump administration to punish Anthropic for its executives’ public criticism of how the government and the president’s political opponents might use the technology.

Mythos was initially made available to a select group of organizations starting in April to address concerns about its ability to identify and exploit software vulnerabilities. A version called Fable was released to the public in June with additional security safeguards. However, as Asian AI companies began releasing their own models approaching Mythos-level capabilities—such as Fugu and Tulonfeng—the U.S. government faced pressure to ease restrictions on Anthropic to ensure American AI could remain competitive globally. Last week, Lutnick cleared Mythos for release to select customers approved by the White House. OpenAI’s latest models were also released to a group of organizations approved by the Trump team, rather than to the public.

The Trump administration’s inconsistent approach to AI policymaking has left companies across the industry uncertain about what rules will govern future model releases. An executive order issued in June, which signaled a desire to review models before release, drew criticism from influential analysts like Dean W. Ball, who recently began a policy role at OpenAI.