Anthropic releases ‘safe’ version of Claude Mythos AI model to public

Anthropic, the maker of the Claude artificial intelligence (AI) models, made a new version of its technology available to the general public on Tuesday while restricting its use in sensitive areas.

Dubbed Fable 5, the model is the first to be made widely available from the company’s new Mythos class – its most advanced lineup of AI technology, unveiled in April but restricted to a small set of partner institutions for months over cybersecurity concerns.

Anthropic promoted Fable 5 as useful for writing and debugging software code, answering complex research questions and analyzing images.

In parallel, Anthropic is offering an unrestricted version, Claude Mythos 5, to companies and organizations that already have access to this model family – including cybersecurity partners enrolled in its Project Glasswing program.

That select group was expanded in early June to about 200 organizations in more than 15 countries and is expected to grow further.

Anthropic has restricted access to Mythos on cybersecurity grounds, given what the company calls its ability to quickly identify vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure, including banking platforms and power grids.

When Project Glasswing launched, some critics accused Anthropic of overhyping the threat to attract attention.

But companies that have tested Mythos have since endorsed its capabilities. The US government – which had been in a legal dispute with Anthropic – has also tested the model over security concerns.

The White House has since set up an arrangement to test the most powerful models from the leading AI companies before they are released. Mythos 5 is being deployed in collaboration with the US government.

Anthropic says most queries about cybersecurity or biology and chemistry to Fable 5 will be routed instead to the lower-tier model, Opus 4.8, which was made public in late May and is billed as less capable.