US ban on Anthropic models sparks AI sovereignty concerns
NEW DELHI: Just over a day after Anthropic hailed India as its “second-largest market” and unveiled a major partnership with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Indian developers, enterprises and researchers found themselves locked out of the company’s most powerful artificial-intelligence tier — Claude Fable 5 and Claude Mythos 5 — following a US govt export-control order.The two use the same underlying model and are distinguished only by their safeguards: Fable 5 is the safeguarded version released to the public, while Mythos 5, with those cyber restrictions lifted, had been reserved for a small group of vetted partners. Cybersecurity experts warn that broad restrictions could undermine defensive security efforts while accelerating calls for sovereign AI capabilities.The move has become a flashpoint in the broader debate over whether frontier AI models should be treated as strategic technologies subject to export controls, similar to advanced semiconductors and other dual-use technologies.Jaspreet Bindra, co-founder and chief executive officer of AI & Beyond, said, “In cybersecurity, the same model can be both a weapon and a shield.” While restrictions could reduce certain offensive cyber risks, particularly among less sophisticated actors, he cautioned that blanket measures could also weaken legitimate defenders. “The question is not simply access or no access, but who gets access and under what controls…”Neehar Pathare, managing director, and chief information officer of 63SATS Cybertech,described the move as a “geopolitical seizure” rather than a security safeguard. “By pulling these models from the global market, you haven’t disarmed the attacker; you have disarmed the defender,” Pathare said, arguing that cybercriminals are unlikely to depend on commercial AI services and can instead turn to open-source or locally hosted alternatives.The controversy comes at a time when AI models are increasingly being used to automate vulnerability discovery, software testing and security analysis.Ritwik Batabyal, chief technology and innovation officer at Mastek, said restricting access to advanced AI systems may reduce some immediate risks but could also make it harder for enterprises and researchers to identify vulnerabilities before attackers exploit them.The development echoes a warning issued just weeks ago in JPMorganChase Center for Geopolitics’s report, Beyond the Benchmarks: A Systemic View of US-China AI Competition, which argued that AI has become “the whole ballgame” geopolitically and identified Anthropic’s Mythos as a model whose significance extends beyond technology into national security.On Friday night, that assessment moved from theory to reality for India. For India, which is rapidly positioning itself as a major AI market and innovation hub, the episode raises difficult questions. The country has the talent, the demand and increasingly the investment. Yet, the sudden loss of access to Anthropic’s most advanced models shows that participation in the AI revolution may also be shaped by strategic competition between major powers.
