The US government has lifted export controls on Anthropic’s Mythos and Fable artificial intelligence models, prompting a wider debate among vendors and policymakers over the resilience and security of AI infrastructure.

The initial restriction, which limited foreign access to some of Anthropic’s most advanced systems, exposed how quickly geopolitical or regulatory decisions can disrupt the supply of closed foundation models. AI founders and government technology advisers argue the episode will have lasting effects on how states and enterprises structure their AI stacks, even as access resumes.

Eugene Cheah, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Featherless.ai, said the episode had already shifted sentiment toward open-source alternatives that organisations can deploy on their own infrastructure.

“This is welcome news from Anthropic. However, I would be concerned that the damage has already been done. It showcased how fragile access to closed models really is and may push more governments, companies, and developers toward open models they can run, adapt, and keep access to themselves.

“That is the point of open source: research is not limited to a small number of labs, and teams can tune models for the problems they are trying to solve. Rio 3.5 Open, a model released by the City of Rio de Janeiro, is a good example. It shows how far open-model work can be pushed when it is adapted for a specific use case,” he said.

Featherless.ai, which recently closed a USD $20 million Series A round led by AMD Ventures and Airbus Ventures, focuses on infrastructure that allows enterprises to run specialist models across varied hardware in their own jurisdictions. Cheah said this approach reduces reliance on a small group of hyperscale providers and gives organisations greater control over where and how AI systems operate.

He expects closed models to retain an edge on the most complex workloads, but said most businesses do not need premium-grade systems for every task.

“Closed models will still be ahead in some areas, especially on the hardest and most expensive tasks. But most organisations do not need a Porsche for every journey. They need models that are good enough for the job, that they can keep access to, and that are not dependent on decisions made by a handful of companies,” Cheah said.

Anthropic has also begun redeploying Claude Fable 5, a version of its Mythos tool that it had previously judged too risky for broad release. The system includes new safeguards and user limits, and Anthropic has acknowledged that “releasing a model this capable comes with risks”.

Roman Stanek, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of GoodData.AI, said longstanding failures in basic cybersecurity remain the bigger issue around such advanced models.

“The thing with AI and cybersecurity is that the vulnerabilities we’re worried about AI exploiting, well, we’ve known about most of them for 20 years. We just never fixed them. Not because we couldn’t, but because nobody wanted to pay for them. Open-source security, legacy code debt, infrastructure hygiene – they are all solvable problems, but all chronically underfunded. Now we have Mythos, this newer, shinier, more expensive model that can theoretically find and fix them.

“Great. Except the incentive structure hasn’t changed. Nobody wanted to pay a human engineer to fix it. They’re not going to pay an AI to fix it either. The issue has never been capability. People are just unwilling to invest, and until that changes, the vulnerabilities will remain as the threat evolves. We will continue to have the same conversation around better and better tools that nobody will use,” Stanek said.

For public authorities, the incident has intensified discussion of “AI sovereignty”. John Harms, Head of Government Solutions at Quantexa, said it underlined the importance of control over the data and decision-making layers that sit above any particular model.

“Government IT leaders regularly tell me that uncertainty is a significant concern this year. Recent events surrounding access to Anthropic’s Mythos and Fable models illustrate why. Even though the decision affecting foreign access has been reversed, the episode serves as a reminder that organisations can be exposed to risks outside their direct control.

“This is not a US-versus-the-rest-of-the-world issue. Any government or organisation, regardless of geography, needs confidence that the technologies underpinning critical operations will remain available. The lesson is clear: resilience depends on sovereignty. And sovereignty requires ‘control under distress’,” Harms said.

He defined that as the ability to sustain operations through geopolitical, regulatory, commercial, or technical disruption while retaining authority over data, models, and the software that turns outputs into real-world decisions.

“Control under distress is the ability to continue operating confidently during geopolitical, regulatory, commercial, or operational disruption. It means being able to govern data, AI models, decision-making processes, infrastructure, and operational dependencies under all circumstances,” Harms said.

He said governments do not need to insist on purely domestic models, but must avoid structures in which external “kill switches” can halt critical services.

“This doesn’t mean we should reject all global technology and insist that every model is built in the UK. That would limit choice and weaken competition. But organisations need to be in a position where they still control their data and decision intelligence layer for critical aspects of the tech stack.

“The prospect of externally controlled ‘kill switches’ raises understandable concerns. Public sector leaders should look at every level of their technology stack, from infrastructure and models all the way to the software on which decisions are being made,” Harms said.

Artificial intelligence accounted for a record 44% of UK smaller-business equity investment in 2025, according to the British Business Bank. Overall equity funding for smaller businesses fell 4% to £12.3 billion.

The bank’s Small Business Equity Tracker found that investors concentrated capital into fewer, larger transactions, with the 10 biggest fundraisings accounting for 23% of total investment, the highest share since 2020.

AI companies also made up 26% of all deals in the smaller-business equity market, almost double their share in 2022. Investment in AI-related deals rose 48% year on year, underscoring the sector’s growing influence on capital flows across the market.

The figures suggest larger AI transactions are offsetting weaker conditions elsewhere. That pattern continued into the first quarter of 2026, when a small number of AI megadeals lifted total investment even as funding conditions for smaller businesses remained subdued.

Early-stage pressure

Outside the biggest transactions, the picture was weaker for younger companies seeking capital. Seed-stage deals fell 27% in 2025, while venture-stage deals dropped 13%.

Growth-stage investment was more resilient, suggesting investors remained willing to back more established businesses while becoming more selective earlier in the funding cycle. Digital and Technology remained the largest recipient of equity investment overall.

Other sectors had a mixed year. Advanced Manufacturing recorded strong growth in investment value, while Financial Services and Life Sciences declined. Clean Energy and Creative Industries were broadly steady by investment level despite a fall in deal numbers.

Spinout activity

The report also highlighted the role of university spinouts in the UK funding landscape. Venture capital deal volumes for spinouts rose 95% in 2021-2025 compared with 2016-2020, outpacing the United States, Germany and France.

Measured against the size of the research base, the UK also had the highest number of venture capital-backed spinouts among those international comparators. This points to strong conversion of academic research into equity-backed companies, even as wider market conditions have become more challenging.

Yet the most recent year showed a slowdown. Equity deals involving UK spinouts fell 33% in 2025 and investment value dropped 51% from the previous year.

The British Business Bank supported a higher share of spinout deals than of the wider market. It backed 16% of spinout deals, compared with 12% across the overall market.

Regional shift

Investment patterns also shifted geographically. The North West recorded an 82% rise in equity investment in 2025, while Scotland rose 74% and the South West increased 104%.

Those gains were tied to a small number of large deals in AI and energy. London still accounted for the biggest share of UK equity investment, but its share fell to 57% in 2025 from 60% in 2024, indicating a modest easing of the capital’s dominance.

Between 2023 and 2025, the bank supported 15% of all deals and 16% of total investment, with a particular focus on innovation-led businesses, including AI companies.

That intervention is part of a broader investment push. After publishing its five-year strategic plan, the bank increased the pace of deployment with the aim of unlocking about £26 billion of private capital alongside £13 billion of its own funding over five years.

It is also deploying £4 billion to support businesses in the government’s eight industrial strategy sectors. Separately, it has committed £2.6 billion to back entrepreneurs across the UK, including through two new Nations and Regions Investment Funds.

A broader international comparison in the report found that UK venture capital investment overall was 32% lower than the US in 2023-2025 when adjusted for the size of the economy. The bank noted that the US figure was influenced by a small number of exceptionally large deals over the same period.

Leandros Kalisperas, Chief Investment Officer at the British Business Bank, said: “While we are seeing signs of the market cycle playing out, the British Business Bank is accelerating deployment of investment across the cycle, and ensuring promising businesses can continue to access the finance they need to start, scale and stay in the UK.

“The concentration of investment into AI highlights both the scale of the opportunity and the challenges within the wider market. Ensuring capital is available across sectors and stages will be critical to maintaining a diverse and competitive pipeline of UK companies.”

Michael Moore, Chief Executive at UK Private Capital, said: “The UK should celebrate the strength of our spinout ecosystem – outpacing the US, France and Germany is no mean feat, but it’s important that we build on this competitive advantage in years to come.

“The British Business Bank is playing an important anchor role in helping develop this ecosystem and growing an investor base of larger VC funds. Nurturing these start-ups and ensuring they can access the right capital at the right time will encourage more companies to scale and stay in the UK.”

SOFIAH NICHOLE SALIVIO

News Editor

PFU has launched the Ricoh SP-2240N and Ricoh SP-2230N document scanners for routine business scanning tasks, priced at GBP £531 and GBP £416.

Based on Ricoh fi Series technology, the models are designed for day-to-day document digitisation. The SP-2240N scans at up to 40 pages per minute, while the SP-2230N reaches up to 30 pages per minute.

Both scanners are built for shared office use and support a range of document types, including standard business papers, plastic cards and A3 documents folded in half. Each has an 80-sheet automatic document feeder in a compact desktop format.

Shared Scanning

A key difference between the models is the SP-2240N’s support for networked and PC-free scanning through DirectScan. The feature is enabled by PFU’s new iiGA system on a chip, allowing users to scan directly from the device and send files to preset destinations without needing a connected computer for each job.

The scanners include three on-device buttons that can be assigned to functions such as saving files to set locations or sending them to email recipients. A PC is still required to configure scanner settings.

Brian Fortune, General Manager Sales, PFU EMEA, said the higher-end model was designed for organisations with constrained technology resources.

“The RICOH SP-2240N represents what many organisations are looking for today: a practical and reliable scanning solution that balances performance, ease of use and cost. As businesses work to digitise documents with limited IT resources, the SP-2240N delivers consistent, high-quality results across shared environments, with the flexibility to process scans directly on the device when a PC is not available,” Fortune said.

Image Processing

The new models use Clear Image Capture technology and include optical character recognition and image processing tools intended to reduce manual correction work. The software can handle functions such as paper size detection and automatic rotation to improve output accuracy across different document formats and orientations.

The scanners also include a Paper Protection function with real-time image monitoring to help prevent document damage during regular use. This is intended to support uninterrupted operation in offices with frequent scanning workloads.

For PC-based workflows, the scanners come with PaperStream ClickScan software, allowing users to start digitisation from a right-click scan command or by pressing a button on the scanner itself.

The package also includes PaperStream Capture software as standard. Customers needing additional automation or form capture functions can upgrade to Capture Pro, while PaperStream IP Net allows any networked PC and scanner to work together.

Office Demand

The launch comes as vendors continue to position document scanners for small and mid-sized office digitisation, where paper records remain common and IT support can be limited. In this market, compact size, lower upfront pricing and simpler setup are often key buying considerations.

PFU said the SP-2240N’s chip also supports the creation of searchable PDF files during PC-free scanning, presenting this as part of a broader push towards one-touch workflows in multi-user office settings.

Fortune said: “With our next-generation iiGA System on a Chip, we are delivering unmatched OCR results for PC-free scanning. Users can now instantly create searchable PDFs and send documents to pre-programmed destinations with the simple press of a button, allowing teams to maintain high productivity without the need for a PC.

“These scanners also provide the flexibility to grow with a business. They come supplied with PaperStream Capture software, which is optimised to deliver the best possible performance for scanning routines. For organisations that need more, an upgrade to Capture Pro offers powerful automation and intelligent form capture, even for handwritten non-cursive text. Furthermore, the inclusion of PaperStream IP Net ensures that any networked PC and scanner can be used together, supporting business scalability from the very first day.”

PFU, founded in Japan in 1960, focuses on document imaging products and IT infrastructure services. It said it holds the top global market share in document scanners, citing market research covering Japan, North America and Western Europe.