US Govt Lifts Restrictions on Powerful AI Models, Anthropic Says

FILED - 06 May 2026, US, San Francisco: FILE PHOTO - The logo of the Artificial intelligence company Anthropic is on display at an event hosted by the company. Photo: Andrej Sokolow/dpa
FILED - 06 May 2026, US, San Francisco: FILE PHOTO - The logo of the Artificial intelligence company Anthropic is on display at an event hosted by the company. Photo: Andrej Sokolow/dpa
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US Govt Lifts Restrictions on Powerful AI Models, Anthropic Says

FILED - 06 May 2026, US, San Francisco: FILE PHOTO - The logo of the Artificial intelligence company Anthropic is on display at an event hosted by the company. Photo: Andrej Sokolow/dpa
FILED - 06 May 2026, US, San Francisco: FILE PHOTO - The logo of the Artificial intelligence company Anthropic is on display at an event hosted by the company. Photo: Andrej Sokolow/dpa

Anthropic will soon begin restoring access globally to its most powerful AI models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, after the US government lifted a restriction on where they could be released, the company said Tuesday.

Over the past couple of weeks, the Trump administration has invoked national security concerns to limit the ability of major US tech companies to release advanced models, including those from Anthropic which some researchers feared could be exploited to bypass cybersecurity measures.

"We've received notice that the Department of Commerce has lifted export controls on Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5," Anthropic posted on X. "We'll begin restoring access tomorrow."

Just four days ago, the company said it had received authorization from the government to allow a small group of American cybersecurity firms to access Mythos 5.

Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said in a June 26 letter to the company that "Anthropic has worked with the US government to address risks associated with the Covered Models," Politico reported.

The government abruptly forced Anthropic to cut off access to its two cutting-edge artificial intelligence models on June 12 after discovering vulnerabilities in the safeguards put in place to prevent misuse of the tool.

On Tuesday, Lutnick told Anthropic in a letter that the Trump administration had "withdrawn" its previous restrictions on the release of the company's models, Politico reported.

The letter indicated that the Trump administration was satisfied, at least for now, that Anthropic had "taken steps in close coordination with the US government to address the risks associated with Claude Mythos 5 and Claude Fable 5."

Like Anthropic, rival AI lab OpenAI has also complied with Washington's requests to restrict its own release of a new, powerful model called GPT-5.6 to a limited set of approved partners.

"This isn't quite the process that we think is optimal," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said Friday in a post on X, alongside an explanation of the GPT-5.6 launch.

Anthropic did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

However, in a blog post published Tuesday evening, Anthropic called for the development of a standardized "framework" to both assess critical vulnerabilities in advanced models and respond to them.

The San Francisco-based AI lab will work with Amazon, Microsoft, Google and others on the effort.

"This problem will become more acute in the coming months, as more models with powerful cybersecurity (and other) capabilities are trained, assessed, and released," the blog post said.

- New frontiers -

The Trump administration issued an executive order on June 2 calling for the federal government to take multiple steps over the subsequent two months to take actions on AI and cybersecurity -- including creating a voluntary "framework" for private companies, such as Anthropic and OpenAI, to test and release their powerful "frontier" AI models in collaboration with the government.

Susie Wiles, the president's chief of staff, posted Tuesday on X that the Trump administration was grateful for the cooperation from tech companies, though she didn't name any.

"My gratitude to companies across industries who continue to work closely with the White House to implement the President's" executive order on AI and cybersecurity, Wiles said. "This includes excellent work around advanced model access and guardrail testing and security."

Earlier in the day, CIA Director John Ratcliffe compared the capabilities of the most advanced artificial intelligence models to nuclear weapons, in a tacit defense of the Trump administration's recent hard line on controlling the release of the most powerful AI technology.

"In conversations with many of the president's other national security and economic security advisors, we're talking about the impact of these frontier AI models," Ratcliffe said during a speech at the AWS summit in Washington.

"It would be...not misplaced to refer to their capabilities as akin to digital nuclear weapons," Ratcliffe said.



France's Top Court Blocks Social Media Ban for under-15s

(FILES) This photograph shows a set up smart-phone screen displaying the logo of main social media platforms including Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Reddit, Telegram, X, Bluesky, Tiktok and Whatsapp in Saint-Mande, east of Paris, on April 29, 2026. On August 14, 2026, the French Constitutional Council struck down the ban on social media for under-15s, ruling that this measure constitutes "a disproportionate infringement" of their freedom of expression. (Photo by Martin LELIEVRE / AFP)
(FILES) This photograph shows a set up smart-phone screen displaying the logo of main social media platforms including Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Reddit, Telegram, X, Bluesky, Tiktok and Whatsapp in Saint-Mande, east of Paris, on April 29, 2026. On August 14, 2026, the French Constitutional Council struck down the ban on social media for under-15s, ruling that this measure constitutes "a disproportionate infringement" of their freedom of expression. (Photo by Martin LELIEVRE / AFP)
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France's Top Court Blocks Social Media Ban for under-15s

(FILES) This photograph shows a set up smart-phone screen displaying the logo of main social media platforms including Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Reddit, Telegram, X, Bluesky, Tiktok and Whatsapp in Saint-Mande, east of Paris, on April 29, 2026. On August 14, 2026, the French Constitutional Council struck down the ban on social media for under-15s, ruling that this measure constitutes "a disproportionate infringement" of their freedom of expression. (Photo by Martin LELIEVRE / AFP)
(FILES) This photograph shows a set up smart-phone screen displaying the logo of main social media platforms including Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Reddit, Telegram, X, Bluesky, Tiktok and Whatsapp in Saint-Mande, east of Paris, on April 29, 2026. On August 14, 2026, the French Constitutional Council struck down the ban on social media for under-15s, ruling that this measure constitutes "a disproportionate infringement" of their freedom of expression. (Photo by Martin LELIEVRE / AFP)

France's top court on Friday blocked a bill banning social media access for under-15s, saying it infringed upon freedom of expression, a setback for President Emmanuel Macron who asked his government to rewrite the legislation.

"By prohibiting minors under the age of fifteen from accessing certain online services, the law inherently requires every person, even an adult, to prove their age before accessing them," the Constitutional Council said in its decision.

"However, by failing to specify the conditions and limits under which such proof must be provided, the legislature has not established the legal safeguards necessary to ensure compliance with these requirements," it added. French lawmakers had approved a ban on social media access for children under age 15, becoming the first in Europe to follow Australia, whose world-first ban barred access to platforms including Facebook, TikTok and YouTube for under-16s in December.

Macron has ordered Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu to re-work the draft legislation to take the Constitutional Council's concerns into account, the Elysee said in a statement.

The Elysee said Macron was determined the reform take effect before spring 2027, when France holds a presidential election. Macron cannot run for a third term.


China’s Lenovo Posts 43% Jump in Q1 Revenue, Highest in Five Years

The Lenovo logo is seen in this illustration photo January 22, 2018. (Reuters)
The Lenovo logo is seen in this illustration photo January 22, 2018. (Reuters)
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China’s Lenovo Posts 43% Jump in Q1 Revenue, Highest in Five Years

The Lenovo logo is seen in this illustration photo January 22, 2018. (Reuters)
The Lenovo logo is seen in this illustration photo January 22, 2018. (Reuters)

China's Lenovo Group reported a 43% jump in quarterly revenue on Thursday, beating forecasts and sending shares of the world's largest computer maker surging, as it rides an AI hardware boom and reaps the benefits of a global memory chip shortage.

Lenovo's revenue rose to $26.94 billion in the three months ended June 30, beating analyst expectations of $22.3 billion, as the consumer electronics hardware giant benefited from artificial intelligence-driven demand and solid PC sales.

It was ‌the group's highest ‌quarterly revenue growth in the last five years, as ‌AI-related ⁠revenue grew 60% ⁠year-on-year to $9.3 billion, accounting for 35% of total revenue in its fiscal first quarter.

The company swung to a net loss attributable to shareholders of $609 million from a profit of $505 million last year, compared to the average analyst estimate of $589 million profit, according to data compiled by LSEG.

The company said the loss was primarily due to a non-cash fair value loss of US$1.7 billion arising ⁠from the revaluation of warrants issued in 2025.

Lenovo's shares hit ‌an all-time high on Thursday before ‌the results announcement, bringing its year-to-date gains to 225%. The shares surged as much as ‌17% after the results announcement.

Its US competitors Dell, Hewlett Packard and Super ‌Micro have been some of Wall Street's best performers this year but have raised prices by 10% to 30% due to soaring NAND and DRAM memory chip costs.

Lenovo's PC, tablet and smartphone division, which accounted for about 64% of total revenue, ‌reported a 27% year-on-year increase in revenue during the period. Adjusted net income, which excludes one-off items and non-cash charges, ⁠more than doubled ⁠to $1.075 billion.

R&D expenses jumped 30% year-on-year, the company said.

Global PC shipments declined by 2% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2026 to 16.6 million units for the first time since Q1 2025 due to memory-driven cost pressures, according to Counterpoint Research.

Lenovo retained its market lead in the second quarter, giving it a market share of 25.6%. Its AI server pipeline reached $54.0 billion, up 157% quarter-over-quarter, reflecting demand from hyperscalers, AI cloud and enterprise AI clients, its earnings report said.

Lenovo's strong performance comes after the company warned earlier this year of pressure on PC shipments as the industry grapples with a memory chip shortage that is getting more severe.

It has also raised PC prices to mitigate the impact of soaring memory costs.


Brazil Demands Safety Controls on Discord After Livestreamed Suicide

The Discord logo is seen in this illustration taken November 7, 2022. (Reuters)
The Discord logo is seen in this illustration taken November 7, 2022. (Reuters)
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Brazil Demands Safety Controls on Discord After Livestreamed Suicide

The Discord logo is seen in this illustration taken November 7, 2022. (Reuters)
The Discord logo is seen in this illustration taken November 7, 2022. (Reuters)

Brazilian authorities are calling on US-based messaging platform Discord, popular among teens, to take action after a suicide case sparked outcry and the first lady called for its shutdown.

Investigators say a 13-year-old girl was encouraged to self-harm and take her own life during a Discord livestream, and five teenagers have been arrested in connection to the death.

The office of the Attorney General of the Union (AGU), a public body that defends the legal interests of the Brazilian state, told AFP on Tuesday it requested and has received a proposal from Discord to "adopt measures aimed at strengthening the safety of its users, particularly children and adolescents."

In a statement sent to AFP, Discord said it was "cooperating with authorities in the investigation into this serious case."

Discord said it had additionally "deactivated, before the teenager's death," a "private server" suspected of being used by "individuals involved in criminal activities encouraging self-harm."

The AGU has demanded concrete measures, like age verification of users.

In Brazil, a law that came into effect earlier this year obliges platforms to link the accounts of users under age 16 to their parents' accounts, and requires platforms to verify user age.

Following the recent death, Rosangela da Silva, wife of left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, called for Discord to be shut down and urged "the judiciary to remove this horrible network from the Internet."

Discord claims more than 90 million active daily users worldwide.

In 2024, the platform X was blocked for 40 days in Brazil, until the social media network owned by the world's richest man Elon Musk complied with the Supreme Court's orders to remove accounts spreading disinformation.