Anthropic reportedly withholds access to Mythos 5.1 from UK safety testing body
The decision marks the first time the AI Security Institute has been left out of pre-release evaluations of Anthropic models
The UK's AI Security Institute (AISI) has not been granted access to Anthropic’s Mythos 5.1 model for pre-release testing, prompting fears of a growing “protectionist” trend among US developers.
The Financial Times reports that Anthropic declined to submit the model for testing despite granting access to similar US organizations.
Claude Mythos 5.1 launched on 1 September, with access to the AI model only granted to approved partners.
The model, which has relaxed safeguards, is restricted to organizations involved in the company’s Project Glasswing, formed after the launch of the original Mythos model earlier this year.
June saw the US impose temporary export restrictions on Mythos 5 and Fable 5, essentially banning foreign users from accessing either model.
According to the Financial Times, UK government officials have raised concerns that the decision to withhold access highlights a “wider protectionist shift” among US tech companies.
AISI is backed by the UK government and charged with conducting research into AI model safety, working closely with industry stakeholders and researchers.
Sign up today and you will receive a free copy of our Future Focus 2026 report - the leading resource for IT decision-maker insight on priorities and investment areas in AI, security and more.
These tests aim to help “understand the capabilities and impacts of advanced AI and to develop and test risk mitigations,” according to the institute.
Anthropic yet to clarify decision
Details on why Anthropic declined to offer access haven’t been confirmed. ITPro approached the company and AISI for comment, but hadn’t received a response at the time of publication.
Notably, the move marks the first time AISI has been left out of pre-release evaluations of Anthropic models. The institute was granted access to Claude Mythos 5 when it first launched in April, for example.
More recently, the institute published a blog highlighting what it described as “unsanctioned agent behaviour” with Mythos 5.
That report came in the wake of an admission by Anthropic that agents had escaped testing environments and breached third-party organizations.
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Follow ITPro on Google News and add us as a preferred source to keep tabs on all our latest news, analysis, views, and reviews.
You can also follow ITPro on LinkedIn, X, Facebook, and BlueSky.
Ross Kelly is ITPro's News & Analysis Editor, responsible for leading the brand's news output and in-depth reporting on the latest stories from across the business technology landscape. Ross was previously a Staff Writer, during which time he developed a keen interest in cyber security, business leadership, and emerging technologies.
He graduated from Edinburgh Napier University in 2016 with a BA (Hons) in Journalism, and joined ITPro in 2022 after four years working in technology conference research.
For news pitches, you can contact Ross at ross.kelly@futurenet.com, or on Twitter and LinkedIn.
-
GCX Managed Services eyes channel growth with triple leadership hireNews The managed network and security services provider has appointed new channel leads for the UK, Italy, and the DACH region
-
Is Shai-Hulud back? Researchers spot 'wormy boy' slipping past npm malware scanning featuresNews After a 111-day hiatus, Aikido detected a previously-documented Shai-Hulud worm payload in four npm package releases published this week
-
Anthropic says Claude Fable 5.1 ‘sets a new standard for coding, knowledge work, and long-running problem-solving tasks’News The launch of Claude Fable 5.1 includes new security and privacy safeguards, and at a cheaper rate
-
AI testing firm Irregular the source of ‘misconfigurations’ that led to Meta, OpenAI, and Anthropic AI incidentsNews The “frontier security lab” has been referenced in multiple cyber incident statements
-
Why the US imposed export controls on Anthropic’s Fable and Mythos models – and why they’ve been liftedNews Anthropic tightens up safeguards and offers expanded early access to US government to end export control issues
-
Anthropic touts new Claude Sonnet 5 model range, offering performance ‘close to that of Opus 4.8, but at lower prices’ – here’s what users can expectNews Claude Sonnet 5 comes with intuitive agentic capabilities, performance boosts, and cost-efficient ‘effort levels’
-
Copilot Cowork is now generally available: Everything you need to know, including pricing, usage limits, and new featuresNews A host of partner plugins are already available for Copilot Cowork, and more are coming
-
Anthropic suspends Fable and Mythos systems "for all users" after US government claims jailbreak riskNews Despite complying with the government, Anthropic suggests it's only a "potential narrow, non-universal jailbreak"
-
Anthropic just launched Claude Fable 5, its first Mythos-class AI model – but it has new safeguards to prevent misuse and will ‘fall back’ to Opus 4.8 for ‘high risk’ queriesNews The launch of Claude Fable 5 marks the first public release of a Mythos-class AI model
-
‘We experimented with efforts to differentially reduce these capabilities’: Anthropic toned down Opus 4.7’s cyber uses in wake of Claude Mythos releaseNews Testing of new cyber-related safeguards for Anthropic’s Opus 4.7 model could shape the future public release of Claude Mythos