Anthropic's 'Distillation Attack' Claim Ignites New US-China AI IP Battle

Anthropic's accusation against Chinese AI labs for "distillation attacks" marks a strategic inflection point in the global AI race. This public claim shifts the US-China tech conflict from hardware export controls to the intellectual property of the models themselves. By detecting and halting the alleged theft of its model’s capabilities, Anthropic is positioning itself as a defender of AI integrity, highlighting the growing importance of model security.

The disclosure immediately places Chinese firms like DeepSeek and Moonshot on the defensive, raising questions about their development ethics and potentially jeopardizing their international standing. This incident sets a precedent, pressuring all major AI labs to harden their APIs against similar covert training methods. The affair signals a future where a model's provable security and ethical training data could become as crucial for commercial success as its raw performance.