Of the two Claude models halted by a U.S. government directive on June 12, one — Mythos 5 — has had its restrictions partly lifted. But only for approved organizations inside the United States. The Verge, Semafor, and others reported that the U.S. Department of Commerce sent a letter to the companies involved on June 26. The government issued no public statement of its own; what is known comes from outlets that say they have seen the letter. Fable 5, halted at the same time, was not freed this round, and Korean companies were left out as well.

The two are the same underlying model, differing only in their safeguard settings (the companion piece has the details).

What was freed

The Verge, saying it had reviewed the letter, reported on June 27 that Mythos 5 had returned to some organizations. According to Business Insider, Anthropic said the government had notified it that Mythos 5 could again be distributed to organizations that operate or defend U.S. critical infrastructure. Estimates of the scope vary by outlet. Semafor put it at more than 100 U.S. organizations. No list of the organizations involved has been made public.

This is not a general release. The Verge characterized the move not as lifting the June 12 export-control directive but as carving out an exception for Mythos 5. Mythos 5 was never a model anyone could use: from its June 9 launch it was offered only to approved customers in a program called Project Glasswing, and Anthropic's developer documentation still lists it as "not generally available."

Fable 5 is still waiting

Fable 5, the model anyone could use, did not come back this time. Semafor reported that the letter was silent on Fable 5, and The Verge reported that no timeline for an agreement was in sight. Anthropic said it is continuing to work with the government to make Fable 5 generally available again (Business Insider).

Korean companies were left out

The Kyunghyang Shinmun reported that the United States lifted the Mythos 5 restrictions for its own companies first, and that Korean firms would still find access difficult. Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and SK Telecom are also expected to fall outside this round.

SK Telecom is a more complicated case. At the time of the June halt, WIRED named SK Telecom as the Korean company at the center of the controversy and reported that it had been a Project Glasswing partner. Whether SK Telecom is included in this easing, however, cannot be confirmed — neither officially nor through other reporting.

So who can use them now

To sum up: in Korea, the regular Claude products — the API and Claude.ai — remain available, and always have been. What was restricted were Mythos 5 and Fable 5; of the two, only Mythos 5 has been unblocked, and only for organizations the U.S. government has approved.

Fable 5, the one anyone could use, is still under discussion. When it will return, and when Korean companies might be included, has not been decided.

Sources

Primary sources

Secondary reporting

Companion pieces