The US Government Killed the Most Powerful AI Model on Earth Three Days After Launch
Anthropic's Fable 5 — widely regarded as the most capable AI model ever released to the public — survived exactly 72 hours before a Commerce Department export control order forced its global shutdown. New reporting reveals the frantic backroom negotiations that preceded the decision.
The most powerful commercial AI model ever released to the public lived for three days. Anthropic launched Claude Fable 5 on June 9, and by June 12 the U.S. Commerce Department had issued an export control order that effectively shut it down for every user on the planet. As @mikadontlouz put it bluntly: "The most powerful AI model on earth was alive for 3 days then the US government turned it off. For everyone. On the planet."
New reporting from @cheyennehaslett and colleague Sophia Cai reveals a previously unreported 24-hour scramble in which senior government officials attempted to convince Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei to voluntarily pull the model from the market before the export control hammer came down. The effort, described as "frantic" by sources familiar with the discussions, ultimately failed — leading the White House to impose controls directly on the company. The detailed account suggests the government's preferred outcome was a quiet, voluntary withdrawal, not a public regulatory action.
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