Chinese-controlled companies restricted from using Claude AI due to cited concerns about legal, regulatory, and security issues
In a significant move, AI company Anthropic has announced a policy change that restricts access to its Claude AI models for companies with majority Chinese ownership. This decision, the company claims, is driven by "legal, regulatory, and security risks" and the desire to prevent authoritarian regimes from accessing its cutting-edge models.
The policy covers all Claude models, including Claude 3.5 Sonnet, and all developer-facing tools. This marks the first instance of a provider pre-emptively cutting off access based on corporate ownership rather than geography or specific use cases.
The decision has left users affected by the restrictions with a choice: either rebuilding around local models or seeking exemptions through multicloud setups. Notably, Chinese AI startup Zhipu has stepped in to help, releasing a migration toolkit for Claude users. The toolkit offers plug-and-play switching to Zhipu's GLM-4.5 API and includes a developer package that costs a fraction of Claude's pricing.
The migration package also includes 20 million free tokens and throughput three times higher than Claude's base tier, making the transition more appealing for developers. Alibaba, too, has launched a migration program encouraging developers to switch to its Qwen-plus model.
However, the search results do not contain information about specific companies that applied for an exemption to use Anthropic's Claude AI models. Anthropic has acknowledged that this decision will impact revenue in the "low hundreds of millions of dollars."
The policy is necessary, according to Anthropic, to protect against the misuse of U.S. AI technology in sensitive or strategic contexts. It's important to note that this decision does not apply to individual users based in China, only companies with majority Chinese ownership.
This move comes after last year's restriction by OpenAI on API access for developers in China, leading to Alibaba launching Alibaba Cloud. The impact of this decision on companies like ByteDance, Tencent, and Alibaba, as well as any portfolio companies or foreign-incorporated divisions, remains to be seen.
As the AI landscape continues to evolve, such decisions highlight the complexities and challenges in balancing technological advancement with national security and ethical concerns.
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