Analysis: US government restrictions on foreign nationals visiting Anthropic's latest model may impact its IPO expectations.

According to a report by Fortune on June 13th, Anthropic shut down all access to its two latest AI models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, after the U.S. Department of Commerce banned access to any foreign nationals citing national security export controls. The directive applies not only to individuals outside the U.S. but also to foreign nationals within the U.S. and Anthropic's own non-U.S. citizen employees. Anthropic stated that given the broad scope of the directive, the company had no choice but to disable the models for all users, except for lower-capacity models such as Claude Opus 4.8. This policy has sparked strong reactions within the AI industry and among policy experts. Some believe this is a further punishment of Anthropic by the Trump administration. The Trump administration had previously instructed federal agencies to cease using Anthropic models, classifying them as a "supply chain risk." AI policy expert Dean Ball stated that it's impossible to determine whether this is a "legal battle" against Anthropic or an extreme national security hawkish stance; in any case, it's simply absurd. Critics argue that Anthropic is bearing the consequences of its own security narrative. Cybersecurity researcher Peter Girnus stated that if a company describes its products as military-grade in every press release, the government will eventually treat it the way it claims. He believes Anthropic has written its own legal premise and branded it as such. AI industry critic Gary Marcus argues that the government's action lacks logic and could prompt Chinese-born AI researchers working at labs like Anthropic and OpenAI to return to China, while also raising questions among investors about whether US AI companies are still a safe bet. Anthropic secretly filed for an IPO earlier this month, with its latest funding round valuing it at $965 billion. This export control decision could dampen investor enthusiasm for Anthropic's IPO, raising concerns about whether the company can remain at the forefront of AI model development if the government continues to impose restrictions on Anthropic's models. Others argue that some concerned about the existential risks posed by AI might even welcome the decision, as it could slow the pace of AI development.