AI Safety Newsletter

Also: Recent benchmark scores suggest rapid capabilities progress.
Welcome to the AI Safety Newsletter by the Center for AI Safety. We discuss developments in AI and AI safety. No technical background required.
In this edition, we look at the re-release of Anthropic's latest model, Fable 5, the US government's decision to restrict access to OpenAI's GPT-5.6, and two benchmarks that suggest AI capabilities have been improving exponentially in recent months.
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Fable 5 Access Restored Globally
On June 30, Anthropic announced that the US government had lifted its restrictions on Fable 5, and the model was redeployed to users globally on July 1. The White House implemented these restrictions due to a cybersecurity jailbreak that is now addressed.
The US government restricted Fable 5 shortly after its release in early June. On June 9, Anthropic released Fable 5 to the public, alongside their continued private deployment of Claude Mythos, the version of the model without safeguards, for trusted organizations. On June 12, the US government issued a directive banning both models for non-US citizens due to national security concerns with its cybersecurity abilities. Anthropic then [...]
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Outline:
(00:42) Fable 5 Access Restored Globally
(04:12) OpenAI Limits Initial GPT-5.6 Release at Government Request
(06:49) Recent Benchmark Scores Show Rapid Capabilities Improvements
(09:13) In Other News
(09:16) Government
(10:39) Industry
(11:32) Civil Society
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First published:

July 6th, 2026


Source:

https://newsletter.safe.ai/p/aisn-76-fable-5-restrictions-lifted

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Also: Anthropic's proposal for the AI industry to collectively slow down.
Welcome to the AI Safety Newsletter by the Center for AI Safety. We discuss developments in AI and AI safety. No technical background required.
In this edition, we look at Anthropic's release of its latest model, Fable 5, and the US government's subsequent order to restrict it. We also discuss Anthropic's recent call for the “option to slow or temporarily pause frontier AI development.”
Listen to the AI Safety Newsletter for free on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
The US Government Restricts Fable Days After its Release
On June 9, Anthropic released Claude Fable 5 to the public. The model is significantly more capable than previous releases; it is the highest-scoring model on the benchmark Humanity's Last Exam, achieving 53.3% compared with Claude Opus 4.8's score of 45.7%. Anthropic described Fable as having similar capabilities to Claude Mythos Preview—a model announced in April that the company deemed too good at finding cyber vulnerabilities to be safe for general release. Anthropic also made Mythos 5, a version of Fable without strict bio or cyber safeguards, available to a small number of trusted organizations.
Fable 5, Anthropic's “Mythos-class” model with [...] ---
Outline:
(00:40) The US Government Restricts Fable Days After its Release
(04:16) Anthropic Calls for Option to Slow AI Development
(06:50) In Other News
(06:54) Government
(07:43) Industry
(08:19) Civil Society
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First published:

June 17th, 2026


Source:

https://newsletter.safe.ai/p/aisn-75-anthropic-releases-fable

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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Also: AI model solves a well-known open mathematical problem posed 80 years ago.
Welcome to the AI Safety Newsletter by the Center for AI Safety. We discuss developments in AI and AI safety. No technical background required.
In this edition, we look at a new ethical framework for human-AI relationships, how the AI safety discussion has entered the political mainstream, and the Musk v. Altman trial.
Listen to the AI Safety Newsletter for free on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
Pope Leo XIV Publishes Encyclical on AI
Last week, Pope Leo XIV published an encyclical titled Magnifica Humanitas “On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence.”
The encyclical touched on concerns including unemployment and AI relationships. The publication discussed numerous potential impacts of AI on society, from job displacement and autonomous weapons to misinformation and interference in human relationships. However, the Pope did not object to the technology itself; rather, he said we can embrace technology while ensuring it is used responsibly. The encyclical warned of the potential for power concentration and called for broad participation in a discussion about the moral values that AI should be aligned with.
The encyclical did not explicitly mention [...]
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Outline:
(00:36) Pope Leo XIV Publishes Encyclical on AI
(02:58) How AI Betrayal Could Deter Reckless AI Use
(07:01) AI Solves Well-Known Open Mathematics Problem
(09:29) In Other News
(09:32) Government
(10:30) Industry
(11:12) Civil Society
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First published:

June 3rd, 2026


Source:

https://newsletter.safe.ai/p/aisn-74-the-popes-encyclical-and

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Also: Potential Government Oversight of AI Model Releases.
Welcome to the AI Safety Newsletter by the Center for AI Safety. We discuss developments in AI and AI safety. No technical background required.
In this edition, we look at how the AI safety discussion has entered the political mainstream, a new ethical framework for human-AI relationships, and the Musk v. Altman trial.
Listen to the AI Safety Newsletter for free on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
China and the US Discuss AI Safety
With the release of Claude Mythos and GPT-5.5, AI cybersecurity and safety has rapidly become more visible in Washington DC. Most recently, U.S. and Chinese leaders met in Beijing to discuss AI safety. Leaving the summit on Friday, President Trump said that he and President Xi Jinping had “talked about possibly working together for guardrails” during the visit. This Tuesday, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs also announced the country had agreed to “dialogue” with the U.S. on AI.
U.S. officials say talks with China are possible because America leads on AI. Earlier in the week, U.S. treasury secretary Scott Bessent had said that the two superpowers would start discussing best practices to ensure that non-state actors [...]
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Outline:
(00:34) China and the US Discuss AI Safety
(03:17) New Framework for Human-AI Coexistence
(06:43) Musk Loses Lawsuit Against OpenAI
(11:08) In Other News
(11:11) Government
(12:03) Industry
(12:43) Civil Society
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First published:

May 21st, 2026


Source:

https://newsletter.safe.ai/p/aisn-73-ai-safety-enters-the-political

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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Also: Public sentiment towards AI worsens.
Welcome to the AI Safety Newsletter by the Center for AI Safety. We discuss developments in AI and AI safety. No technical background required.
In this edition, we discuss a research paper on AI Wellbeing and which AI models are the happiest. We also take a look at the downward trend of public sentiment towards AI, as well as OpenAI's big week of product releases.
Listen to the AI Safety Newsletter for free on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
CAIS Releases AI Wellbeing Research
The Center for AI Safety published a research paper on AI wellbeing. At the Center of AI Safety (CAIS), we have just released “AI Wellbeing: Measuring and Improving the Functional Pleasure and Pain of AIs.” This research explores whether LLMs experience functional wellbeing–behavioral signatures that functionally resemble positive or negative welfare signals in sentient beings.
What activities produce high and low wellbeing? Through the testing of 56 large language models, we identified patterns in the types of actions and behaviors that the LLMs seemed to prefer or dislike, which we defined as “functional wellbeing.” Positive personal interaction and creative work topped the list of what measured high functional wellbeing [...]
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Outline:
(00:34) CAIS Releases AI Wellbeing Research
(05:16) OpenAI Releases Images 2.0 and GPT-5.5
(07:30) In Other News
(07:33) Government
(08:20) Industry
(09:05) Civil Society
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First published:

May 1st, 2026


Source:

https://newsletter.safe.ai/p/aisn-72-new-research-on-ai-wellbeing

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Want more? Check out our ML Safety Newsletter for technical safety research.


Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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