Europe weighs AI dependence after Anthropic access cutoff

Europe’s reliance on American AI providers is facing renewed scrutiny after a US order led Anthropic to block users outside the United States from its Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models. The systems were among Anthropic’s most advanced and had already been used by companies and public authorities in Europe, according to TV 2 Denmark.

The cutoff raised concerns for organizations building services around foreign AI systems, particularly in public administration, cybersecurity, health support, planning and document-heavy casework. Denmark’s government expects AI to free at least 50 million public-sector working hours by 2035, equal to about 30,000 full-time jobs, but agencies such as hospitals, municipalities, tax offices and benefits authorities cannot easily replace an advanced model overnight.

European officials and industry leaders framed the incident as part of a wider infrastructure problem. US companies still dominate cloud, software and AI systems, while Europe has struggled to match the computing capacity, engineering talent and private investment required to build large-scale models.

Danish digitalisation minister Christina Egelund said Denmark had naively bought into platforms it does not control. Companies can reduce exposure by avoiding single-supplier dependence, keeping systems portable and spreading data across providers, but the broader challenge is building European models, servers, investment and companies that can operate at scale.