Beau’s Field Note • June 15, 2026

The government just ordered Anthropic to shut it down.

Jeff J Hunter was preparing to run a live training on getting the most out of Claude’s top models. Those models are now gone for everyone — and the implications run far deeper than most people are willing to say out loud.

Jeff was literally about to run a live training on how to get the most out of Claude’s two best models — what Anthropic internally called Fable 5 and Mythos 5.

Now they’re gone.

Not just for unverified users. Not just for foreign nationals. Gone for everyone — including people like Jeff who already went through their full credentialing and security verification process.

The reason given? The government “believes” there might be a jailbreak technique.

Anthropic themselves said the vulnerabilities were minor. Already known. Other models could find them too. It didn’t matter. The government said shut it down. So they shut it down.

iPhone screenshot of Anthropic’s official announcement on anthropic.com, dated Jun 12, 2026, with a hand-drawn red highlight box around the title: Statement on the US government directive to suspend access to Fable 5 and Mythos 5

Screenshot of Anthropic’s own public statement (anthropic.com), June 12, 2026. The red box is exactly as it appeared.

This is the first time

This is the first time a leading AI company has taken a publicly deployed model offline because the US government told them to.

Read that again.

The government ordered a private company to disable their own product — a product people were already using — and the company complied.

Anthropic disagreed with the order. They called it a “misunderstanding.” They said it sets a “problematic precedent.” But they still complied. Because when the government has this much power over a private company, you don’t really have a choice.

“Once you give them that power, you don’t get it back.”

— The line Jeff keeps coming back to

The same people cheering this were screaming “my body, my choice” two years ago.

The same people who hate this were fine when the government was going after “misinformation.” You only care about freedom when it’s your freedom.

Even some of Jeff’s libertarian friends are torn on this.

Some of them support it because “China” or “national security.” Which is exactly why Jeff no longer calls himself a libertarian.

He calls himself an individualist.

Classic liberal principles. Limited government. Personal freedom. Property rights. The government exists to protect those things. Not to control them.

If the government can shut down an AI model today because of “national security”…

They can shut down anything tomorrow.

Your business. Your platform. Your speech. Your access.

Once you give them that power, you don’t get it back.

In Jeff’s view, the government should NOT have the power to shut down a business for creating a good product. Period.

“But national security…” Stop.

Defending against hackers is the government’s job. It’s also the job of every business owner. It’s the job of every SOC, governmental or private.

It’s NOT the government’s job to police your AI usage.

Just like it shouldn’t be the government’s job to determine who you can marry, what you put in your body, what you do in your own bedroom, what words you’re allowed to say, what medical decisions you make, what you can build on your own property, or what business you’re allowed to start.

Once you give them that power, you don’t get it back.

Jeff hopes more people wake up — on the left and on the right.

This isn’t about AI.

This is about control.

And once they have it… they never let go.

This isn’t right.

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