{"slug": "i-was-using-anthropic-s-fable-when-it-disappeared-mid-project-it-taught-me-a-ai", "title": "I was using Anthropic's Fable when it disappeared mid-project. It taught me a lesson about AI and business.", "summary": "Sean McDonnell, founder of web design company Kaizen and SaaS site Consigns, lost access to Anthropic's Fable AI model mid-project after the US government ordered export restrictions. The disruption was minimal due to his backup plan, but it reinforced the need for AI reliance caution.", "body_md": "*This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Sean McDonnell, 43, who lives in England. McDonnell is the founder of the web design company Kaizen and the SaaS website Consigns. The following has been edited for length and clarity.*\n\nDeveloping my website would not have been possible without AI.\n\nI started my web design business earlier this year, which also led me to create a website that provides software to help companies track their waste. I run both of these ventures with my partner, and we enlist contractors for some operations and software development.\n\nWe're a small team, and AI tools are a big help. Last week, I saw a few posts online showing the amazing things that [Anthropic's new Fable model](https://www.businessinsider.com/anthropic-claude-fable-5-mythos-class-model-release-2026-6) can do.\n\nI was keen to try this new technology, but didn't get much of a chance to use it. A few hours in, I was mid-task when [the US government forced Anthropic](https://www.businessinsider.com/why-white-house-ordered-export-controls-anthropic-mythos-fable-2026-6) to cut off foreign access to Fable with little to no notice.\n\nThe rug got pulled from under me pretty quickly, but because I was well-prepared, it didn't have a hugely disruptive impact on my business. It's a reminder that you can't [rely too heavily on AI](https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-keep-brain-sharp-avoid-overreliance-ai-2026-4) as a founder, and you should always have a backup plan in case of unforeseen circumstances.\n\n## I was keen to give Fable a try, but it was short-lived\n\nI like using [OpenAI's Codex](https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-codex-elevated-errors-at-capacity-2026-6) for repetitive, code-intensive work, and Claude for tasks that help design the product's aesthetics. AI has been able to completely change the architecture of our codebase in a day, whereas a task like that would've taken a developer weeks to do manually.\n\nAfter seeing so much about it online, I wanted to use Fable to conduct a full review of our product for safety and security flags. The model was in the middle of making some key changes to our codebase when it got shut off instantly with a notice saying, \"[Claude Fable 5 is currently unavailable](https://www.businessinsider.com/anthropic-model-access-mistral-opportunity-ai-sovereignty-2026-6).\"\n\nI didn't realize until the next day that this had happened because the US government ordered Anthropic to block foreign access to the model. It's been a bit of a bummer, and I feel bad for the people at Anthropic for making a brilliant product and having the rug pulled from under them, too. I'm also quite annoyed we didn't get to do more with Fable. I think it could've propelled us so much further.\n\n## Being prepared helped us avoid a huge disruption\n\nThis isn't the first time we've had issues with using Claude. In the past, when we used Opus 4.6, it would stop mid-task because it hit [the token limit](https://www.businessinsider.com/pylon-ceo-tokenmaxxing-era-coming-to-end-ai-spend-limits-2026-6) so quickly. We didn't realize how token-heavy the tool was, and it left our codebase in a bit of a mess.\n\nBecause we'd learned this lesson with 4.6, we made sure we were more prepared for unforeseen circumstances with using AI.\n\n## Read more from our Tiny Teams series\n\nWhen we started our product review last week, I asked Fable to create a guide that both Claude or other AI models could follow. This enabled us to pass the remaining tasks to other agents when we lost access to Fable. We passed some to Codex and others to Claude 4.8. If we hadn't been prepared this way, the Fable issue could've resulted in lots of work being out the window.\n\nFable getting pulled didn't have a major impact because we were ready for it, but it ruined our momentum. We're working on a deadline, and every minute counts, so delays like this can be quite disruptive.\n\n## Always have a plan B\n\nThis Anthropic incident has solidified my conviction that you can't depend completely on AI.\n\nIf the government were to shut off AI access completely, our business wouldn't end, because we've already built out our platform, but we are quite dependent on AI. A situation like that would likely increase our costs, partly because we'd have to switch to the old-school method of hiring developers.\n\nIn today's AI era, it's important to always have a plan B. Don't just rely on one AI tool. It's good to understand the strengths of different models.\n\nMake sure you're documenting things as you go by keeping records that exist outside your AI tool. If Claude knows all about our code base, but it gets pulled tomorrow, would I be able to give that over to a developer? At this stage, I think I could, because I've been documenting everything as I go. It's a fail-safe.\n\n*A spokesperson from The White House told Business Insider, \"The Trump administration is collaborating with AI industry leaders to balance cutting-edge innovation with national security concerns that affect both the United States and our allies.\"*\n\n*Anthropic did not immediately respond to requests for comment.*\n\n*Do you have a similar story to share? If so, you can reach out to one of the reporters at* __aapplegate@businessinsider.com__* and *__ccheong@businessinsider.com____.__", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/i-was-using-anthropic-s-fable-when-it-disappeared-mid-project-it-taught-me-a-ai", "canonical_source": "https://www.businessinsider.com/using-anthropics-fable-when-foreign-access-disappeared-mid-project-2026-6", "published_at": "2026-06-17 09:11:01+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-06-17 09:32:00.378526+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-tools", "ai-policy", "ai-safety"], "entities": ["Anthropic", "Sean McDonnell", "Kaizen", "Consigns", "OpenAI", "Codex", "Claude", "Fable"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/i-was-using-anthropic-s-fable-when-it-disappeared-mid-project-it-taught-me-a-ai", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/i-was-using-anthropic-s-fable-when-it-disappeared-mid-project-it-taught-me-a-ai.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/i-was-using-anthropic-s-fable-when-it-disappeared-mid-project-it-taught-me-a-ai.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/i-was-using-anthropic-s-fable-when-it-disappeared-mid-project-it-taught-me-a-ai.jsonld"}}