Anthropic releases Fable 5 model, built on the same tech that spooked the government

Artificial intelligenceAnthropic releases Fable 5 model, built on the same tech that spooked the governmentThe leading AI company says the new model is similar to the Mythos model previewed in April but safe for general use.Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00The Anthropic logo as seen at an event organized by the AI company. Andrej Sokolow / picture alliance via Getty Images fileShareAdd NBC News to GoogleJune 9, 2026, 1:00 PM EDTBy Jared PerloAnthropic released its latest model Tuesday afternoon, heralding the public’s first access to the AI company’s most powerful class of AI systems. Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.The company says the model, termed Fable 5, is the first publicly available product in the same family as Anthropic’s powerful Mythos models, which sent shockwaves through the cybersecurity world earlier this year for their superhuman ability to find and exploit cyber vulnerabilities.“Fable’s capabilities exceed those of any model we’ve ever made generally available,” the company said in a blog post announcing the model’s release. “It is state-of-the-art on nearly all tested benchmarks of AI capability, showing exceptional performance in software engineering, knowledge work, vision, scientific research, and many other areas.”According to the company, Fable 5 uses the same tier of technology as Mythos but is safe for use by the public because of safeguards and limits placed on the technology. Anthropic’s Mythos Preview model, which lacks similar safeguards, was able to find thousands of critical and severe cyber vulnerabilities, including bugs and exploits in all major operating systems and web browsers.Many AI researchers worry that increasingly powerful AI systems could help bad actors carry out cyberattacks on banks, power grids or other critical infrastructure. Others hypothesize that increasingly intelligent AI systems could help terrorists design and deploy biowea...