[DigitalToday reporter Jinju Hong (홍진주)] Anthropic has again extended through July 19 the period in which it is offering its top general-purpose artificial intelligence (AI) model, Fable 5, without an additional fee. As a result, paid-plan users can allocate up to 50 percent of their weekly usage limit to Fable 5 without a separate application.

Japan's ITmedia reported on July 13 that the extension applies to Pro, Max and Team plans and some enterprise users. For enterprise plans, only premium seat contract holders are included, and it is available only when an organisation administrator has enabled the feature.

Users can use Fable 5 across Claude web, mobile and desktop apps, as well as Claude Code, Claude Cowork and Claude Design, without separate registration or settings.

Fable 5 is Anthropic's top "Mythos"-class general-purpose model. The company unveiled it on June 9 for a two-week limited period, but later temporarily suspended access, citing export restrictions. After restoring access on July 1, it extended the end date once to July 12 from July 7, and has now again extended the offering period to July 19.

Anthropic did not disclose a specific reason for the latest extension. The market, however, is focusing on the possibility it is related to recent launches of new models by rivals.

OpenAI began general availability of its new model family, GPT-5.6, on July 9. Some assessments said its top model, Sol, showed performance similar to or higher than Fable 5 in some benchmarks.

Anthropic also decided to keep until July 19 a measure that raises the weekly usage limit of its AI coding tool, Claude Code, by 50 percent from the previous level. The measure had been due to end on July 12, but will be extended by another week alongside the Fable 5 extension.

Still, the available scope is limited. Paid subscribers can use Fable 5 for only up to 50 percent of their total weekly usage limit. To keep using Fable 5 after fully exhausting that limit, they must buy usage credits that are billed separately from their existing contract. Alternatively, they can switch to another model, such as Claude Opus 4.8, and work within their remaining weekly limit.

Anthropic said that once the extended period ends on July 19, Fable 5 will no longer be included in the weekly usage limit of paid plans. As a result, the measure is seen as providing paid users with an additional week to try the top model without extra cost.

The decision shows competition in the generative AI market expanding into a contest over access to high-performance models and usage limits. Anthropic restored access after a temporary suspension due to export restrictions, extended the end date twice, and also maintained a higher usage limit for Claude Code.

The industry sees paid subscribers' access to high-performance models widening in the short term, but says there is a strong possibility that Fable 5's billing method and usage conditions will change again after July 19.