Trump Administration Slows AI Development Over Cyber Weapon Fears

The Trump administration is intervening in the development of advanced artificial intelligence, prompting AI developers like OpenAI and Anthropic to restrict the release of their newest models. This unprecedented government vetting process targets potential cybersecurity risks and national security threats.

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We don’t believe this kind of government access process should become the long-term default.

OpenAI announced it would limit access to its new AI product, GPT-5.6 Sol, making it available only to customers approved by the administration. The company stated that while they view this government access process as a temporary step, it should not become the long-term default.

Anthropic, a rival AI company, also faced government scrutiny. After initially taking offline two new AI models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, due to concerns they could be weaponized, the U.S. Commerce Department has now approved a limited release of its Mythos 5 model. It will be accessible to a small group of cyber defenders and infrastructure providers.

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redeployed to a small group of cyber defenders and infrastructure providers

These actions follow President Trump's executive order on AI oversight, which established a framework for federal government review of advanced AI systems for national security risks. Officials are increasingly concerned about AI's potential to discover software vulnerabilities that could be exploited by malicious actors to threaten critical computer networks globally. Investor David Sacks noted that Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei had previously described the Mythos model as a "cyber weapon."

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Dario came to Washington a few months ago, back in April, and basically said that he had created a cyber weapon called Mythos.