The AI Tool That Vanished
The Narrative North Star - A newsletter by Digital Dolphins
Where storytelling, AI and human insight meet. Stories and signals for the future we are shaping.
How Fable helped create our StoryLab workbook in just minutes.
A brief encounter with something extraordinary
Hi Changemakers,
This week brought a striking reminder of how quickly the creative-technology landscape can change.
Anthropic released Claude Fable 5 on 9 June 2026, describing it as its most capable publicly available model and the first public release from its new “Mythos-class” generation of systems. Just three days later, on 12 June, Anthropic abruptly disabled both Fable 5 and Mythos 5 for all customers following an emergency export-control directive from the United States government.
The directive sought to prevent foreign nationals—inside or outside the United States—from accessing the models, citing national-security concerns and reports of a possible way to bypass some of Fable’s safeguards. Anthropic said it could not immediately comply with that restriction selectively, so it switched the models off for everyone. The company has described the situation as a misunderstanding and is continuing discussions with government officials.
And so, almost as quickly as it arrived, Fable disappeared. Nomen est omen—the name proved prophetic, as Fable returned to the realm of imagination.
What happened while the door was open
For the brief time I had access to Fable, it was the most powerful AI tool I had ever used.
Not because it produced more words.
Because it seemed able to hold the whole shape of an idea: the intention behind it, the learning journey, the practical structure and the human experience we wanted to create.
In just minutes, I used it to help build the workbook for our upcoming StoryLab.
What might ordinarily have required hours of organising, reframing and formatting emerged with remarkable clarity. The tool helped me turn a collection of narrative journey steps into a guided experience—something we could hold in our hands, work through together and use to uncover the deeper story beneath a project, message or creative vision.
The model may no longer be available, for nwo anyway, but the work we created with it remains.
And because you are inside the Circle of the Digital Dolphins, I am sharing the StoryLab workbook with you now.
Your StoryLab workbook is here
This is not simply something to read.
It is the workbook we will use live during next week’s StoryLab sessions.
Together, we will explore the magic and craft of storytelling: how to recognise the story you are really telling, find its emotional centre and shape it into something that can connect with the people you most want to reach.
You might bring:
- a creative project that feels slightly stuck
- a course, workshop or learning experience
- a film, presentation or keynote
- a brand or community story
- an idea that matters to you but is still difficult to explain
During the session, we will invite participants into the hot seat and work through the workbook together.
You will be able to see the narrative architecture process unfold in real time—not as a formula, but as a thoughtful conversation between your idea, your audience and the change you hope to create.
You do not need to arrive with a polished story.
You simply need to bring something you care about.
A reflection from the creative tide
Fable’s sudden disappearance raises larger questions about the tools we increasingly rely upon.
Access can change. Models can be restricted. Platforms can vanish almost overnight.
But our imagination, judgement and lived experience remain ours.
Perhaps that is the real lesson of this week.
AI can help us move faster. It can help us see structures we had not noticed and turn scattered thoughts into something tangible. Yet the meaning of the work still comes from the human being guiding it.
The tool helped us create the workbook.
Now we will bring it to life together.
Join us for the free StoryLab Masterclass
Come and discover the magic of storytelling with us during next week’s free StoryLab Masterclass.
Bring your workbook, your questions and a story you would like to explore. Volunteer for a hot seat, or simply watch and learn as we work through the process together.
Register for the free StoryLab Masterclass:
Reserve your place here
We are offering 4 sessions about different timezones,✨ registere once, join any session — all four run in the same Zoom room and cover the same content. If your schedule changes, simply choose a different time.
- 🇦🇺 Tuesday, 23 June · 12:00 p.m. AEST (Melbourne)
- 🇩🇪🇬🇧 Wednesday, 24 June · 10:00 a.m. BST (London) / 11:00 a.m. CEST (Berlin) /7:00 p.m. AEST / (Melbourne)
- 🇦🇺 Thursday, 25 June · 12:00 p.m. AEST (Melbourne)
- 🇺🇸 U.S. Session — Thursday, 25 June · 3:00 p.m. PDT (Los Angeles) / 6:00 p.m. EDT (New York) = Friday, 26 June · 8:00 a.m. AEST
And, your storytelling journey, you do not have to explore or implement this alone. Book a 15-minute call with Bettina to find out how we can help.
With warmth and curiosity,
Bettina and the Digital Dolphins team 🐬
