Anthropic said it expects access to its blocked frontier AI models to be restored within days, even as the company expands its presence in South Korea amid U.S. security restrictions.
Chris Ciauri, Anthropic’s managing director of international, said at a press conference in Seoul on Wednesday that the company is confident the models will become available again soon. The remarks came after the White House directed the company to block Mythos and Fable 5 for foreign nationals over security concerns.
Following that directive, Anthropic cut off access to the models both inside and outside the United States. The company has not publicly detailed when or how access will be resumed, but Ciauri said the company believes a change is imminent.
The press event was originally planned as a showcase for Anthropic’s business expansion in Korea, but questions about U.S. export controls and the company’s Project Glasswing cybersecurity program quickly took over much of the discussion. Project Glasswing is Anthropic’s initiative to limit access to Mythos to a select group of partners because of the model’s potentially disruptive capabilities.
Korea has become a focal point in the controversy after a Washington Post report said a Korean telecommunications company with access to Claude Mythos may have prompted the White House action because of suspected ties to China. Anthropic did not address that report in detail during the event.
The company also declined to answer many questions related to the suspension of its top-tier models, instead emphasizing its commercial plans in Korea.
Ciauri said Anthropic is deepening its investment in the market and has already begun building a local team that includes commercial, technical, policy and operations staff. He said the company plans to keep expanding in the months ahead.
“We are deepening our investments in Korea,” he said, adding that Anthropic expects to grow its business quickly.
Anthropic Korea Representative Director Choi Ki-young said the company already has a growing base of users in the country, including developers and graphic designers. He said Korea ranks 12th in usage for the company.
Anthropic said Project Glasswing now includes about 150 partners worldwide. Those partners reportedly include major U.S. technology companies such as Google, Nvidia, Microsoft and Apple. In Korea, participants include Samsung Electronics, SK hynix and SK Telecom.
The models at the center of the dispute have drawn attention because Anthropic says they can identify weaknesses in code that had previously been thought to be unbreakable. The company has argued that this makes the systems powerful enough that misuse by a bad actor could have serious consequences.
That concern led Anthropic to keep Mythos out of public access, according to the company. Still, the models’ sudden removal has also raised questions about the reliability of Anthropic’s services for customers and partners.
Some industry observers have warned that repeated clashes with the U.S. government could complicate the company’s expansion plans and affect confidence in its products.
Even so, Anthropic appears to be betting that the disruption will be temporary. For now, the company is signaling that the blocked models could soon return, while it continues to build ties in one of its fastest-growing international markets.