EU and White House Met on Anthropic Access Following Ban

European and U.S. officials reportedly met following a recent ban on Anthopic’s AI models.

The discussions between the European Union (EU) and the White House came after the latter banned foreign nationals and companies from accessing the latest iterations of the artificial intelligence (AI) startup’s models, Bloomberg News reported Thursday (June 25).

The EU discussed the ban during a trip to Washington this week by a top policymaker, European Commission Executive Vice President Henna Virkkunen told Bloomberg.

“I have also addressed that myself with the Trump administration,” Virkkunen said. “And also we have been speaking with Anthropic.”

The report notes that Anthropic had initially given the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity access to its Mythos model at the start of June, making it the first EU body granted use of the powerful tool. In the U.S., the company had limited access to federal government departments and a select few of major tech and financial companies.

Anthropic has said it believes the ban came after the government learned it was possible to “jailbreak” its Fable 5 model, which the company had kept from performing cybersecurity tasks. Anthropic has since held discussions with the government to restore access to the models.

Interviewed by Bloomberg in Milan, Virkkunen said Europe needs access to the advanced AI models, which can detect weaknesses in information and communications technology supply chains. She also said the EU needs to work on its own AI capabilities and rely less on single companies or other non-European countries.

The EC is readying an action plan on AI and cybersecurity, which is scheduled to be adopted next month, Virkkunen added.

The news comes one day after the European Central Bank (ECB) released a study showing that AI adoption is limited among businesses in the region.

The report found that while 70% of firms surveyed were AI users, very few companies within the euro area use the technology “intensively,” meaning more than infrequent or moderate usage.

“Nearly half of the firms that were not using AI in 2025 plan to invest in it in 2026,” ECB wrote on its blog. “At the same time, most firms report using AI only infrequently or moderately, with only 7% of euro area firms reporting intensive use.”

The research also found that although the likelihood of AI adoption increases along with the size of the company, intensive usage is more common for smaller and newer businesses.