Key facts
- Amazon CEO Andy Jassy reportedly alerted US officials to security risks in Anthropic's Fable 5 AI model.
- The US administration issued an export control directive forcing Anthropic to withdraw the model.
- Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei reportedly resisted the administration's requests for voluntary withdrawal.
- David Sacks described the US action as reluctant and noted Anthropic's lack of cooperation.
- Decentralized AI tokens experienced a rally following the US government's intervention.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy reportedly contacted senior US government officials on Thursday after Amazon researchers discovered a method to prompt Anthropic's Fable 5 AI model into generating information usable for cyberattacks. This warning, along with concerns from at least five other firms, prompted a rapid response from the White House to assess the threat.
David Sacks, co-chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, stated on Saturday that the administration issued export controls reluctantly and was surprised by Anthropic's unwillingness to cooperate with safety requests. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei reportedly pushed back against the administration's concerns and requests to voluntarily withdraw the model.
The US directive forced Anthropic to pull its new model from public access on Friday night. Anthropic stated in a blog post that it believed the directive stemmed from a misunderstanding of the threat posed by a "non-universal jailbreak." Amazon confirmed that governments sometimes seek their counsel on security risks but did not confirm specific discussions regarding Anthropic.
Anthropic is currently working to restore access for its users. Sacks expressed the administration's hope that Anthropic will address the safety issue, which would allow the export control to be lifted and Fable to be released generally. The episode highlighted the US government's capability to quickly restrict access to US-based AI models.
In reaction to the crackdown, decentralized AI tokens saw a rally. Bittensor, a decentralized AI protocol, saw its native token surge 23.9% in 24 hours. Venice Token (VVV), powering a decentralized AI platform, rose 16%, and Near Protocol, a blockchain project focused on decentralized AI agents, increased by 6.2%.