Anthropic claims Chinese AI firms secretly use Claude. Is it true?

Anthropic has alleged that Chinese AI companies secretly used its Claude model to advance their own systems, an accusation now echoed in a joint advisory from the National Security Agency, FBI, and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued last month stating that Chinese AI developers have been systematically extracting capabilities from US frontier models to cut their own computing and electricity costs. The claims have not been substantiated in the available reporting, leaving open whether Chinese firms actually tapped US models.

Did Chinese AI companies secretly tap US models to close the technology gap? That is the central question hanging over China’s tech sector following a wave of allegations from Washington and American AI lab Anthropic. According to a joint advisory by the National Security Agency, FBI, and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency last month, Chinese AI developers have been systematically extracting capabilities from US frontier models to reduce their own computing, electricity and...