South Korea's Telecom Giant SK Telecom at the Center of the Anthropic Mythos Controversy

As the U.S. government has ordered restrictions on foreign nationals' access to Anthropic's cutting-edge AI models, Claude Mythos and Fable 5, SK Telecom, which holds access to these models, has found itself at the center of the controversy.

The White House has demanded the revocation of SK Telecom's access, citing alleged ties to China, but SK Telecom strongly denies any connection to China, calling the allegations unverified.

The key issues are as follows:

• Export Control Conflict: U.S. authorities raised security concerns based on SK Telecom's history of business in China, but the actual government letter contained no direct mention of the Korean company.
• Anthropic's Response: Judging that nationality-based access blocking is technically difficult, Anthropic has chosen to completely deactivate the model itself, showing disagreement with the U.S. government.
• Security Vulnerability: Security concerns have intensified after Amazon researchers reported a vulnerability allowing them to bypass Fable 5's guardrails to access Mythos's cyber capabilities.

SK Telecom formed a strategic partnership with Anthropic by investing $100 million in 2023, and this incident stands as an example of how export control and national security issues surrounding AI models can affect actual companies' access to AI technology.