Anthropic, an AI company, has disabled customer access to its most capable systems after the US government ordered it to suspend all use by foreign nationals. The move is the latest in a series of actions targeting the company.

National Security Concerns

The US government cited national security issues as the reason for the directive, although it did not provide specific details. Anthropic believes the government had become aware of a method of ‘jailbreaking’ its Fable 5 model, which could potentially be used to exploit cybersecurity vulnerabilities.

Anthropic had instituted several safeguards for its newest models to reduce the likelihood of misuse for tasks related to cybersecurity. The company has worked with the US government to ‘red team’ Fable’s safeguards and noted that no model is completely resistant to any jailbreak.

The restriction means that many foreign nationals working for Anthropic will not be able to access the models. The Commerce Department, which issued the restriction, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Implications

The government’s directive has sparked concerns about the potential impact on the development and deployment of AI models. Anthropic’s newest model, Mythos, has been seen as a significant advancement in AI capabilities, and the company had initially limited its release to a group of key partners.

The US government has had a complicated relationship with Anthropic, with the Trump administration previously blacklisting the company over its insistence on including certain safety guardrails for the government’s use of AI in warfare. Anthropic has sued the government over the designation and has had some success in the ongoing case.

Original reporting: KEYT (Ventura/Santa Barbara) — read the source article.