Anthropic has accused Chinese technology giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE:BABA) of extracting capabilities from its Claude AI models.
Anthropic Alleges Large-Scale AI Distillation Campaign Linked To Alibaba
According to a letter reviewed by Reuters on Wednesday, Anthropic told U.S. lawmakers that operators affiliated with Alibaba and its AI research unit, Qwen, conducted a large-scale “distillation” campaign between April 22 and June 5, 2026.
Distillation refers to the practice of training a smaller or less advanced AI model using outputs generated by a more capable system.
Anthropic alleged that the effort relied on nearly 25,000 fraudulent accounts that collectively produced more than 28.8 million exchanges with Claude.
The company claimed the campaign was aimed at accelerating China’s ability to develop systems approaching the capabilities of Anthropic’s advanced Mythos Preview models.
Alibaba and Anthropic did not immediately respond to Benzinga’s request for comments.
AI Competition Between US And China Draws Greater Scrutiny
The June 10 letter was sent to Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and ranking member Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) ahead of a congressional hearing on artificial intelligence.
The allegations come amid heightened tensions over AI competition between the U.S. and China. In April, the White House accused China of systematically targeting intellectual property from leading American AI companies.
Anthropic Previously Flagged Similar Activity From Chinese AI Labs
The company said it had previously identified alleged capability-extraction campaigns involving Chinese AI firms DeepSeek, Moonshot AI and MiniMax.
Anthropic reported that those efforts generated more than 150,000, 3.4 million and 13 million Claude interactions, respectively, making the alleged Alibaba operation significantly larger.
The allegations surfaced as U.S. regulators continue to tighten controls on advanced AI technology.
Previously, it was reported that the Commerce Department imposed restrictions on Anthropic’s latest Mythos and Fable models over concerns they could be accessed by military or intelligence users in China and other countries of concern.
Price Action: Alibaba closed Wednesday’s session down 2.73% at $99.80 and edged up 0.35% to $100.15 in after-hours trading, according to Benzinga Pro.
Benzinga Edge Rankings place Alibaba stock in the 94th percentile for Value, though the shares have posted negative price trends across the short, medium and long-term time frames.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
Photo Courtesy: Algi Febri Sugita on Shutterstock.com
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