The US government’s order to bar non-US citizens from accessing Anthropic’s powerful AI model for cybersecurity is fueling European calls for speeding up European sovereignty and cutting off dependence on US technology.

On Friday, Anthropic announced that it would completely shut off access to its AI models Mythos 5 and Fable 5 after receiving an order from the US government to block all non-US citizens, including its own employees.

A European Commission spokesperson told Euractiv in a statement that the US’s move “further underlines Europe’s need for technological sovereignty”.

At the same time, they said that the models present serious cybersecurity concerns. The EU’s executive previously said that EU laws on cybersecurity and AI served as a good basis for Europe’s protection against AI-powered cyber threats.

“We continue discussions with our allies on these models. It is in our mutual interest to tackle these risks and strengthen cybersecurity” the Commission spokesperson said, adding that the Commission would present an action plan on cybersecurity and AI.

Tech sovereignty has become one of the EU’s top priorities in recent years. The European Commission presented a dedicated package in early June, aiming to accelerate the development of Europe’s data centre, chips and AI capacities.

Finnish MEP Aura Salla wrote in a post on LinkedIn that “it’s high time for action to make European tech sovereignty a reality”, arguing that “there have been enough wake-up calls like this for Europe.”

Fellow MEP Sergey Lagodinsky posted on X that Europe must demand access to those models, and called for European leaders to convene on the matter.

The US decision has also sparked reaction among France’s politicians, several of whom are running in the upcoming presidential election.

Ex-prime minister and candidate in the 2027 elections, Gabriel Attal, said in a post that “the AI war has already begun” and that “the next presidential election will not be able to sidestep this issue”.

“Europe has seen this risk for years […] This is not the alarm. This is the bill for ignoring it”, independent cybersecurity expert Lukasz Olejnik posted on Bluesky.

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