[Digital Today reporter Jinju Hong (홍진주)] Anthropic has again extended the free-use period for its AI model "Claude Fable 5," offered to paying subscribers. The move reflects that actual access time was sharply reduced by U.S. export restrictions, but usage limits were not reset and some users continue to complain.

On July 8 local time, Japanese outlets ITmedia and Gigazine reported that Anthropic said it would extend the Claude Fable 5 promotion, originally set to end, until 4 p.m. on July 13. It announced the extension on July 7, just before the original end. Paying subscribers can use the model longer at no additional cost.

Claude Fable 5 is the top-tier "Mythos class" AI model available to general users. After its release in June, it was introduced as a version of "Claude Mythos 5," provided to U.S. government agencies and some companies, with security restrictions applied. Paying users were to use it for about a month at no extra cost, but the service was temporarily suspended after U.S. export controls were imposed shortly after launch.

At the time, U.S. national security authorities issued guidance not to provide Claude Fable 5 and Claude Mythos 5 to any foreign nationals, including foreign employees, regardless of whether they were inside or outside the United States. The model was suspended for about 18 days. The service resumed after the restrictions were lifted on July 1, but the actual free trial period was reduced to about 10 days.

The extension appears largely aimed at partly making up for that gap. During the extension, subscribers can use up to 50 percent of their weekly usage limit for Claude Fable 5 at no additional cost. Once the free limit is used up, they can continue on a pay-as-you-go basis by purchasing usage credits, as before.

User reactions were mixed. The biggest complaint was the timing of the extension announcement. Not a few users had already exhausted their usage as the end approached. In English-language communities, comments such as "I stayed up all night and used my limit, then they announced an extension right before it ended" and "I hope they stop announcing at the last moment" continued, and many meme images mocking it were shared.

Users in Japan also welcomed the extension itself but expressed disappointment. Alongside reactions such as "Thank you" and "I didn't expect it," there were also many requests such as "I've already used all my limit" and "Please reset the usage limit first."

The complaints are tied to Anthropic's weekly usage limit policy. Usage resets on a designated day and time for each account, so users who have already hit their limit cannot use Claude Fable 5 again until the reset point even if the extension period has begun. In some cases, users may have to wait up to about a week.

So far, Anthropic has not issued a separate position on whether it will reset usage limits. The offering period has been extended, but the amount of usable time users feel they have can vary widely.

API fees remain unchanged. Standard input costs $10 per 1 million tokens, output costs $50 per 1 million tokens, and a separate cache usage fee applies when using the prompt-caching function.

The industry views the extension as another example showing high demand for Claude Fable 5. It is also seen as showing that simply extending the access period alone is unlikely to ease user complaints. Attention is focused on whether Anthropic will offer measures such as weekly limit resets or additional promotions.