Anthropic has accused Alibaba of orchestrating a large-scale effort to steal capabilities from its Claude AI model, alleging the Chinese technology giant used nearly 29 million interactions through thousands of fraudulent accounts in what it called “the largest campaign to extract Claude’s capabilities illicitly.”
In a letter dated June 10 to US Senators Tim Scott and Elizabeth Warren, the San Francisco-based AI company said operators linked to Alibaba carried out the operation using a technique known as “distillation attacks,” in which outputs from a more advanced AI system are used to train a less capable model.
Anthropic said the method is being deployed at industrial scale to replicate US AI systems at lower cost.
“Distillation attacks turn hundreds of billions of dollars in American investment and [research and development] into a massive subsidy for our geopolitical competitors,” the company wrote.
The letter alleged that the operation targeted Claude’s most advanced features, including its ability to handle complex tasks and its decision-making processes.
Anthropic called on Congress to impose penalties on firms involved in such activities and strengthen protections against the alleged theft of US AI technology.
The company also cited US Department of Defence assertions that Alibaba and other major Chinese firms, including BYD and Baidu, have ties to the Chinese military. Alibaba has denied the allegations and filed a lawsuit seeking removal from a US government blacklist.
Anthropic further alleged that similar techniques have been used by Chinese entities to train competing AI systems, echoing earlier accusations made by OpenAI against Chinese groups. The company is among the leading developers in the global AI race and is preparing for a potential public listing.
