Trump Administration Reignites Its Feud With Anthropic Over Latest A.I. Models

Source Domain: www.nytimes.com

The feud between Anthropic and the Trump administration escalated again on Saturday after the government took the unusual step a day earlier of demanding that the artificial intelligence company cut off foreign access to its latest models, as top officials suggested the dispute was unlikely to resolve quickly.

Late on Friday, Anthropic disclosed in a blog post that it had disabled access for all customers to its most advanced A.I. systems, known as Fable 5 and Mythos 5, after receiving a directive from the administration to suspend access to any foreign national. The move shocked former U.S. officials and cybersecurity experts, many of whom questioned the validity of the action and noted that it diverged from the hands-off approach to policing the booming A.I. industry that President Trump had endorsed earlier this month.

Anthropic said the directive did not explain the national security concerns that prompted it. But the company added that the government had said that it became aware of a method to “jailbreak,” or bypass, security restrictions on Fable 5 intended to limit a customer’s ability to abuse the product for hacking or other potential harms. Anthropic countered that the fears about the jailbreak method were overblown.

The announcement inflamed tensions between the Trump administration and Anthropic, which earlier this month confidentially filed for an initial public offering following a funding round valuing it at nearly $1 trillion. The two sides have sparred for months over how Anthropic’s A.I. systems could be used in military and intelligence settings, culminating with the Pentagon labeling the company a supply-chain risk.

On Saturday, top Trump administration officials and allies of Mr. Trump’s stepped up their attacks on Anthropic.

“Three months ago, @DeptofWar kicked @AnthropicAI out of our building—forever,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on X. “Every passing day proves why that was the right move.”

David Sacks, a venture…

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