U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the government has resolved a regulatory dispute with AI developer Anthropic PBC, signaling an end to temporary export restrictions on its flagship models. Speaking on Bloomberg Television during the Group of 20 technology summit in North Carolina, Lutnick stated that Anthropic’s revised safeguard protocols now align with administration policy, allowing the Commerce Department to lift its export curbs.
The restrictions, imposed in June over national security concerns, were rescinded two weeks later after Anthropic implemented updated security measures for its Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models. The easing of controls comes as Anthropic prepares potential groundwork for an initial public offering that analysts suggest could rival SpaceX’s public debut in scale.
Anthropic co-founder Tom Brown joined Lutnick at the summit, publicly endorsing efforts to accelerate domestic data center construction and power infrastructure. The company’s regulatory alignment follows a federal court ruling in San Francisco last week that ordered the government to lift military procurement restrictions on Anthropic’s technologies. Those restrictions had been imposed by the Department of Defense, which previously designated Anthropic a supply-chain risk due to disagreements over mandatory safety guardrails.
While the Commerce Department’s actions indicate progress, it remains unclear whether this signals broader reconciliation across the federal government. The Pentagon has yet to publicly adjust its stance, leaving open questions about military deployment of Anthropic’s AI systems despite the recent legal ruling.
