June 22, 2026, (Inside AI) — President Donald Trump declared on Friday that Anthropic no longer poses a national security threat, signaling the end of a tense ten-day export control standoff that had frozen two of the company's flagship AI models.
The Reversal at a Glance
Speaking to reporters, Trump confirmed he would not shut down the AI firm. "I would, but I'm not sure I have to do that. I think so far it's been very responsible," he said. The president added that a competitor and part-owner had originally flagged the concern, which "worked out very well."
When asked directly if Anthropic still posed a threat, Trump replied: "Well, not now. But a week ago, maybe."
How a Rival Sparked the Crisis
Trump credited a part-owner and competitor for alerting his administration. This aligns with earlier reports that Amazon CEO Andy Jassy raised concerns about Anthropic's Claude Fable 5 capabilities to senior Trump officials before the export control order hit.
The crisis began on June 12 when the U.S. government directed Anthropic to disable Claude Fable 5 and Claude Mythos 5 globally, citing a potential jailbreak enabling cyberattack assistance. Anthropic complied but pushed back, stating it received only verbal evidence of the vulnerability and warning that such a standard would halt all frontier model deployments if applied consistently.
The Pentagon Contract Collapse
Behind the standoff lies a broken contract negotiation between Anthropic and the Pentagon. Talks collapsed after Anthropic refused to permit its technology for mass domestic surveillance or autonomous weapons. The Pentagon subsequently designated Anthropic a supply chain risk—a label the company is now suing to overturn.
During the week, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Trump AI adviser David Sacks publicly attacked Anthropic. Meanwhile, dozens of security leaders from NVIDIA, Zoom, and Mercedes-Benz signed an open letter demanding the government restore access.
What Comes Next
The Commerce Department has not yet formally lifted the export control order. Fable 5 and Mythos 5 remain offline as of publication, though Trump's comments strongly suggest a reversal is imminent.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei responded quickly, Trump noted, calling the situation "a tremendous liability." The president framed the resolution as a responsible outcome, but the legal battle over the Pentagon's supply chain designation continues, leaving Anthropic's government contracts in limbo.
