Legally or not, the U.S. government is controlling global access to the world’s most powerful AI

Ah, the land of the free strikes again, this time with a Commerce Department order that treats AI like a state secret. In June, Anthropic was ordered to block foreign nationals from accessing its two most advanced models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5. The justification? National security, because the US government has never abused that excuse before. Legally or not, the order gives the executive branch unilateral control over global access to frontier AI.

The irony is thick enough to spread on toast. Anthropic, the darling of the AI safety community, now enforces US export control policy without clear statutory authority. The order reportedly affects not just foreign users abroad but also foreign researchers working in the US—because nothing fosters collaboration like a government-mandated ban. And once the government has its hand on the kill switch, it's not letting go. The precedent is clear: if you build powerful AI, the state will decide who gets to use it.

So the world's most powerful AI becomes a tool of state power, accessible only to approved Americans and their allies. The rest of the world will build their own alternatives or buy from China. Congratulations, Commerce Department: you've accelerated the fragmentation of global AI development. Another step toward the AI iron curtain, and we barely noticed. The order came just as Anthropic released a cheaper model for the enterprise—so much for democratizing AI access.