Waka Itagaki

AI governance & policy. MSc Computing @ImperialCollege (AI safety). 9 yrs in Japanese govt on tech policy. Newsletter ↓ Views my own

[Waka Itagaki @waka08072]

As AI capabilities continue to advance, national security concerns and broader societal impacts will drive stronger state intervention. This tightening bond between government and AI may ultimately shut out the general public from accessing the most advanced frontier models

[Anthropic @AnthropicAI]

The US government, citing national security authorities, has issued an export control directive to suspend all access to Fable 5 and Mythos 5 by any foreign national, whether inside or outside the United States, including foreign national Anthropic employees.

The net effect of this order is that we must abruptly disable Fable 5 and Mythos 5 for all our customers to ensure compliance.

Access to all other Claude models is not affected.

We apologize for this disruption to our customers. We believe this is a misunderstanding and are working to restore access as soon as possible.

Read our full statement: https://t.co/bwn0sximKZ

[Waka Itagaki @waka08072]

My background: 9 years in government on emerging tech policy → now at Imperial College London researching AI safety assurance (safety cases for adversarial robustness).
The newsletter sits where those two worlds meet — written for people who work on these problems.

[Waka Itagaki @waka08072]

Anthropic released Fable 5 on June 9. The next day, Dario Amodei proposed regulating frontier AI like aviation, mandatory third-party testing, with the power to block unsafe models.
My essay asks the question underneath that proposal: does the aviation model actually transfer?

[Waka Itagaki @waka08072]

The bigger picture, and the reason for this newsletter:
Some of the most brilliant people alive are working around the clock on AI capabilities. The work of governing those capabilities deserves the same intensity.
It isn’t getting it. Not yet.

[Waka Itagaki @waka08072]

Anthropic’s own launch announcement says it plainly: no company — including Anthropic — has safeguards strong enough to prevent Mythos-class models from being misused.
Publishing that was honest. But naming a gap is not the same as closing it.

[Waka Itagaki @waka08072]

Start with Fable 5 itself. Same architecture as Mythos — the model Anthropic restricted for its expert cyber capabilities. The public version is protected by a classifier.
How would we know if that’s enough?

[Waka Itagaki @waka08072]

The deadline of application is June 26. Please find the details here:
https://t.co/yDHV5OoWHN

[Waka Itagaki @waka08072]

METI of Japanese government will support proof of concept projects utilizing web3 and blockchain technologies. We are soliciting businesses to create use cases in areas such as digital transformation, green transformation, content, sports, and regional revitalization.

[Waka Itagaki @waka08072]

These businesses will conduct effectiveness evaluations and create guidelines through pilot projects, with budgets ranging from 20 to 60 million yen allocated to each. Free consultations with special advisors, including lawyers, engineers and incubators, will also be available.

[Scott Kupor @skupor]

. @JPN_PMO and @bhorowitz discussing the opportunities for the Japanese start-up ecosystem, with a particular focus on Web 3 and AI

[AlphaPanda @0xPandaCalls]

Introducing our distinguished speaker for #DCENTRALTokyo🗼, @waka08072 , the Deputy Director, Web3.0 Policy Office of @meti_NIPPON

🗓️: 19th-20th September, 2023
🎟️: https://t.co/cQzgCevIvb

See you there!🙌 #DCENTRAL

[Waka Itagaki @waka08072]

It’s happening now

[Embrace Asia @Embrace_Asia]

It is our GREAT honor to have @missbitcoin_mai @minoruy @Yu_Ayato @waka08072 @whiplus @pegchung to join #EmbraceAsia special episode: The Japan Blockchain Week recap on July 5th!
Can't wait to hear their takeaways of this amazing event!!
https://t.co/wZONE68ILO
#IVS2023 #JBW2023

[Waka Itagaki @waka08072]

I will be speaking at IVS Crypto Kyoto today at 12pm!

“Japan Regulatory Outlook”

Ryosuke Ushida
Financial Services Agency Japan

Waka Itagaki
Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry

JT Law
Partner
IVC

#IVS2023KYOTO

https://t.co/EcwSY56j40

[Waka Itagaki @waka08072]

@Yu_Ayato @Sota_Web3 お疲れ様でした、色々とありがとうございました！

[Waka Itagaki @waka08072]

Minister Nishimura delivered a keynote speech at the Non Fungible Tokyo event!

[経済産業省 @meti_NIPPON]

西村大臣は、Non Fungible Tokyo2023に出席。ブロックチェーンは、足下では文化経済領域や金融領域に、将来的には組織やデータ流通等のあり方にも変革をもたらしうる技術。経済産業省ではイノベーション創出に向け規制と振興のバランスにも留意したWeb3.0の事業環境整備を進めていきます。#meti_daijin