The Trump administration has shifted its focus to Anthropic's cofounder Tom Brown in meetings about re-releasing the Claude Fable 5 AI model, according to people familiar with the matter. Brown is seen as more cooperative than Amodei, who was previously leading the discussions. The administration has not yet lifted export controls that took Anthropic’s most powerful models offline on June 12, following the National Security Agency’s affirmation that guardrails could be bypassed.
However, the administration has had multiple calls with Anthropic in recent days, encouraged by the involvement of Brown and public policy chief Sarah Heck. Amodei was described as difficult to engage with and not responsive to concerns. The talks have included both high-level and working-group discussions, with technical staff from both sides involved.
Some conversations have centered on establishing what proof from Anthropic might alleviate the administration’s concerns about jailbreaks of Fable 5, according to the people. The timeline for re-deploying Fable 5 remains uncertain, but criteria for lifting export controls could become clearer soon. A bipartisan group of lawmakers sent questions to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick about the path forward for Anthropic, including criteria for restoring public access to the model.
The letter, signed by several representatives, demanded responses by June 26, but a Commerce Department spokesperson declined to comment on meeting the deadline. Source: wired
