Globalisation is dead, Sridhar Vembu says after US restricts Mythos and Fable access to Americans only
A US order forcing Anthropic to restrict access to its latest AI models has sparked fresh questions about who controls the future of artificial intelligence. Sridhar Vembu calls it a wake-up call for India, saying "globalisation is dead" and the country must build its own AI capabilities.
Anthropic is disabling access to its most powerful AI models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, for all foreign nationals, both inside and outside the US, to comply with a government order. This means Indian users will no longer be able to access the models, regardless of where they are based. The announcement has sparked a fresh debate around technology sovereignty, national security and whether countries can continue relying on AI systems developed elsewhere. According to Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu, the development is a wake-up call for India to build its own AI capabilities.
Reacting to the announcement on X, Vembu called the development "big" and said it showed how quickly technology is becoming tied to national security. He argued that countries can no longer assume they will always have access to the world's most advanced technologies, adding that the episode proves "globalization is dead" and that India must build its own AI capabilities.
Why is Anthropic restricting access?
Anthropic said it was forced to take the step after receiving an export-control directive from the US government ordering it to suspend access to Fable 5 and Mythos 5 for all foreign nationals. According to the company, officials cited national security concerns and a potential "jailbreak" that could allow users to bypass safeguards designed to prevent the models from being used to identify software vulnerabilities.
The AI company said it had received only "verbal evidence of a potential narrow, non-universal jailbreak" and disagreed with the government's assessment. Nevertheless, Anthropic said it had no choice but to comply.
"The net effect of this order is that we must abruptly disable Fable 5 and Mythos 5 for all our customers to ensure compliance," the company said, adding that access to its other AI models would remain unaffected.
AI is now a national security issue, says Vembu
Reacting to the development, Vembu says the ban on Anthropic's, models highlights two realities.
"Technology is the ultimate weapon. National sovereignty, national security, all of it is now about technology," he wrote. "Globalization is dead and Bharat must find her own way ahead."
India needs to focus on its own AI ecosystem
Vembu argued that India should focus on deploying smaller AI models, including Indian and Chinese open-source alternatives, rather than depending entirely on frontier models controlled by foreign companies.
"With a bit of effort, we can make them work," he wrote. "Anyway, why pay money to people who don't even want to sell to you?"
The Zoho founder also called for deeper investment in research and development but cautioned against trying to match the spending of the world's biggest AI players. According to Vembu, training cutting-edge models requires not only enormous computing budgets but also access to advanced GPUs that are increasingly subject to export restrictions.
He noted that competing at the frontier level could require investments exceeding $100 billion and argued that even if the money were available, obtaining enough GPUs would remain a challenge. Rather than asking governments to spend tens of billions of dollars chasing the latest models, Vembu said India should pursue alternative and more cost-effective research approaches.
Mohandas Pai calls for a national AI mission
Similar calls for India to build its own AI capabilities were echoed by veteran investor and former Infosys CFO T.V. Mohandas Pai, who used the episode to push for a much larger national AI mission.
In a post addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Pai urged the government to launch an "India AI Mission" led by public and private sector leaders, with Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani as vice-chair.
Pai said India was falling behind in the AI race and argued that existing government programmes were too slow and too small to make a meaningful impact. He called for an annual Rs 5 lakh crore deep-tech and AI fund, alongside a Rs 2 lakh crore guarantee fund to help build cloud infrastructure, hardware capabilities and semiconductor manufacturing.
"We need a very large national mission," Pai wrote.
Anthropic is disabling access to its most powerful AI models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, for all foreign nationals, both inside and outside the US, to comply with a government order. This means Indian users will no longer be able to access the models, regardless of where they are based. The announcement has sparked a fresh debate around technology sovereignty, national security and whether countries can continue relying on AI systems developed elsewhere. According to Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu, the development is a wake-up call for India to build its own AI capabilities.
Reacting to the announcement on X, Vembu called the development "big" and said it showed how quickly technology is becoming tied to national security. He argued that countries can no longer assume they will always have access to the world's most advanced technologies, adding that the episode proves "globalization is dead" and that India must build its own AI capabilities.
Why is Anthropic restricting access?
Anthropic said it was forced to take the step after receiving an export-control directive from the US government ordering it to suspend access to Fable 5 and Mythos 5 for all foreign nationals. According to the company, officials cited national security concerns and a potential "jailbreak" that could allow users to bypass safeguards designed to prevent the models from being used to identify software vulnerabilities.
The AI company said it had received only "verbal evidence of a potential narrow, non-universal jailbreak" and disagreed with the government's assessment. Nevertheless, Anthropic said it had no choice but to comply.
"The net effect of this order is that we must abruptly disable Fable 5 and Mythos 5 for all our customers to ensure compliance," the company said, adding that access to its other AI models would remain unaffected.
AI is now a national security issue, says Vembu
Reacting to the development, Vembu says the ban on Anthropic's, models highlights two realities.
"Technology is the ultimate weapon. National sovereignty, national security, all of it is now about technology," he wrote. "Globalization is dead and Bharat must find her own way ahead."
India needs to focus on its own AI ecosystem
Vembu argued that India should focus on deploying smaller AI models, including Indian and Chinese open-source alternatives, rather than depending entirely on frontier models controlled by foreign companies.
"With a bit of effort, we can make them work," he wrote. "Anyway, why pay money to people who don't even want to sell to you?"
The Zoho founder also called for deeper investment in research and development but cautioned against trying to match the spending of the world's biggest AI players. According to Vembu, training cutting-edge models requires not only enormous computing budgets but also access to advanced GPUs that are increasingly subject to export restrictions.
He noted that competing at the frontier level could require investments exceeding $100 billion and argued that even if the money were available, obtaining enough GPUs would remain a challenge. Rather than asking governments to spend tens of billions of dollars chasing the latest models, Vembu said India should pursue alternative and more cost-effective research approaches.
Mohandas Pai calls for a national AI mission
Similar calls for India to build its own AI capabilities were echoed by veteran investor and former Infosys CFO T.V. Mohandas Pai, who used the episode to push for a much larger national AI mission.
In a post addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Pai urged the government to launch an "India AI Mission" led by public and private sector leaders, with Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani as vice-chair.
Pai said India was falling behind in the AI race and argued that existing government programmes were too slow and too small to make a meaningful impact. He called for an annual Rs 5 lakh crore deep-tech and AI fund, alongside a Rs 2 lakh crore guarantee fund to help build cloud infrastructure, hardware capabilities and semiconductor manufacturing.
"We need a very large national mission," Pai wrote.
