White House Tightens Controls on Anthropic Amid Telecom Ties

WHO:

Wired - Anthropic, a company specializing in artificial intelligence.

Wired - SK Telecom, a South Korea-based telecommunications company.

New York Times - Employees at Anthropic expressing concerns about the situation.

WHAT:

Wired - The White House ordered Anthropic to revoke SK Telecom's access to its AI models.

Wired - Anthropic took its most advanced AI models, Claude Mythos, offline.

New York Times - Anthropic disabled its AI models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, with less than 90 minutes of notice.

WHERE:

Wired - The action involved SK Telecom, which is based in South Korea.

WHY:

Wired - The revocation of access was due to alleged ties between SK Telecom and China.

New York Times - Employees at Anthropic speculated that Trump may be exerting pressure on the startup.

HOW:

Wired - The White House's directive led to the immediate revocation of access to the AI models.

(UPDATED June 18, 2026 04:21 UTC)

The White House has ordered Anthropic to revoke SK Telecom's access to its AI models, citing alleged ties between the South Korean telecommunications company and China. In response, Anthropic took its most advanced AI models, Claude Mythos, offline and disabled Fable 5 and Mythos 5 with less than 90 minutes of notice. Employees at Anthropic have expressed concerns about the situation, speculating that Trump may be exerting pressure on the startup.