Last month, the US government applied export controls to Fable 5 and Mythos 5, requiring Anthropic to restrict access for foreign nationals, whether inside or outside the US. Because of this restriction, Anthropic suspended access to both models for all users. Following approval from the US government, Anthropic brought back Fable 5 from July 1st.
Fable 5 was made available through Claude Platform, Claude.ai, Claude Code, and Claude Cowork. As part of a limited-time promotion, Fable 5 was included for up to 50% of the weekly usage limits until July 7 for Pro, Max, Team, and select Enterprise users.
Today, Anthropic has extended promotional access to Claude Fable 5, just as OpenAI appears to be preparing a broader release of GPT-5.6. According to Anthropic’s updated support page, Claude Fable 5 promotional access will now run through July 12, 2026, at 11:59:59 PM PT.
During the promotional period, eligible users can use Claude Fable 5 for up to 50% of their weekly subscription limits at no extra cost. After reaching that limit, users can either continue using Fable 5 with usage credits or switch to another Claude model and continue working within their remaining plan limits.
The promotional period extension comes as OpenAI is reportedly close to a wider release of GPT-5.6. Axios today reported that the U.S. Department of Commerce has given OpenAI approval for a broad launch of the model after additional testing and meetings with government officials. OpenAI is expected to release GPT-5.6 widely this week.
Anthropic’s extended promotion appears to be a strategic effort to hold developer attention in an increasingly competitive AI market. With Claude Fable 5’s promotion now extended and GPT-5.6 apparently nearing a broad release, the competition between OpenAI and Anthropic in the frontier AI model market is set to heat up again this week.