Anthropic Accuses Alibaba of Illicitly Extracting AI Capabilities

Thu Jun 25 2026 11:30:28 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

U.S. AI firm Anthropic alleges Alibaba used thousands of fake accounts to harvest its Claude model, calling it a subsidy to China's tech ambitions.

U.S. AI company Anthropic has fired a warning shot at Chinese tech giant Alibaba, claiming the e‑commerce firm used massive fake accounts to siphon secrets from its Claude AI model in a so‑called distillation attack. The accusation was sent to senators Tim Scott and Elizabeth Warren, and the company urged legislative action to curb such theft. Alibaba denies the charges and has even sued the U.S. government to remove itself from the Pentagon blacklist, while Anthropic warns that these attacks turn U.S. R&D into a free subsidy for China’s competitors.

Anthropic Accuses Alibaba of Illicitly Extracting AI Capabilities

Business reporter Osmond Chia

Published: 2 hours ago

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei speaking in a plant‑decorated room — Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei

U.S. artificial intelligence (AI) giant Anthropic has accused Chinese e‑commerce and technology firm Alibaba of “brazenly” and “illicitly” extracting its Claude AI model's capabilities.

In a letter sent to two members of the U.S. Congress, the San Francisco‑based company said operators linked to Alibaba carried out almost 29 million exchanges with Claude using thousands of fraudulent accounts in what it called the largest extraction campaign of its kind.

Anthropic urged Congress to penalise the companies behind attacks like this and to ramp up measures to prevent U.S. tech from being stolen.

The letter, dated 10 June and addressed to U.S. Senators Tim Scott and Elizabeth Warren, described a campaign carried out through distillation attacks that extracted answers from a stronger AI model to train a weaker one.

Alibaba‑linked operators targeted Claude’s most valuable capabilities, including its ability to tackle longer and more complex tasks and its approach to decision‑making.

The company said such attacks are carried out on an industrial scale to enable Chinese firms to harvest and repackage U.S. AI capabilities as their own.

The letter also cited other alleged attacks that Anthropic said posed a threat to the U.S. military. “Distillation attacks turn hundreds of billions of dollars in American investment and [research] and development into a massive subsidy for our geopolitical competitors,” the firm added.

Anthropic cited the U.S. Department of Defense’s claims that Alibaba and several major firms like car maker BYD and tech company Baidu are tied to the Chinese military.

The companies have denied any such allegations, while Alibaba this week sued the U.S. government in a bid to get its name removed from the Pentagon blacklist.

U.S. developers have previously accused Chinese competitors of using distillation attacks to train their models to rival American AI technology at a fraction of the cost.

OpenAI has also previously accused Chinese groups of employing the same practice.

Anthropic is a leading AI developer and, alongside ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, is gearing up for a blockbuster stock market debut that could make it one of the most valuable companies in the world.

Some of Anthropic’s more advanced models, such as Mythos, have raised cybersecurity concerns over their ability to target weaknesses in computer systems. (BBC News)