Anthropic's top model got cheaper and faster. Anthropic still says start with Opus.

Anthropic released Claude Fable 5.2 and Mythos 5.2 on 9 November 2026, the same model with different safeguards. Fable 5.2 costs $8 per million input tokens and $40 per million output, with a fast mode at $16 and $80. Testers report output up to 30% faster than the 5.1 models, and about 55% fewer safeguard blocks.

Your hardest AI jobs just got a new price tag and a faster lane. But the default is 30-day retention for safety monitoring unless you qualify for zero retention. And Anthropic itself points most coding work to Opus 5.5.

Swap in claude-fable-5-2 on a staging branch and compare cost, speed and answers on your own hardest tasks. Then check whether 30-day retention fits your data agreements before you ship it.