freefable.org, formed in response to the June 12 directive, published an open letter arguing the ban disarms defenders without restricting what attackers can already use in other models.
More than 130 information security executives, researchers, and academics published an open letter on June 14, formally calling on the U.S. government to lift the Fable and Mythos suspension imposed two days earlier.
The letter was published at freefable.org, an organization formed specifically in response to the directive that prompted Anthropic to cut access for all users on June 12. It is addressed to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross. Notable signers include Bruce Schneier, one of the most widely cited voices in computer security, affiliated with Harvard University and the University of Toronto; Philip Zimmermann, creator of the PGP encryption standard; and Vinh Nguyen, former Chief Responsible AI Officer at the National Security Agency. The group spans CISOs, CEOs, security researchers, and academic faculty across the U.S. and allied countries.
They argue that Mythos-class models can find software flaws and generate exploits, but are not unique in this. The same capabilities exist in GPT-5.5, Opus, Sonnet, and Chinese open models, including Kimi 2.7. The signers contend that removing the best American tools from defenders without restricting what attackers can already access elsewhere weakens defense without limiting offense. The letter also challenges the jailbreak evidence the government cited to justify the directive. The signers say what the jailbreak unlocks in Fable is already freely available in other models without bypassing any safeguards. Fable’s jailbreak, they argue, does not give attackers capabilities they could not already access elsewhere. Anthropic is working to close the specific vulnerability.
If the government does pursue AI risk regulation, the letter says it should be grounded in scientific consensus developed with industry and academic input, created through democratic rule-making, enforced transparently with time to remediate, and applied only as far as necessary to protect public safety.
The letter remains open for additional signatures at freefable.org. The government has not publicly responded.
