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AI · Corporate Espionage · Intellectual Property · US-China Tech
US artificial intelligence firm Anthropic accused Chinese technology giant Alibaba-linked operators of illicitly accessing its Claude AI model through a "largest known distillation attack," involving nearly 25,000 fraudulent accounts and 28.8 million exchanges between April 22 and June 5, 2026, to copy its advanced capabilities.
Anthropic, in a June 10 letter to US senators Tim Scott and Elizabeth Warren, stated the campaign targeted Claude's advanced capabilities like software engineering, agentic reasoning, and long-horizon task planning. The company argued such unauthorized campaigns allow rival AI developers to replicate leading US models without incurring significant research, development, and training costs.
Anthropic urged US lawmakers to implement stronger actions against model-copying efforts, including restrictions on access to advanced US computing infrastructure and penalties for involved entities. These allegations intensify the ongoing competition between the US and China in artificial intelligence, with Washington already tightening export controls on advanced chips and AI technologies.
