Anthropic says Chinese firms like Moonshot and DeepSeek route user queries to Claude through overseas transfer stations.
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| Source: Techmeme | Original article
Anthropic says Chinese firms Moonshot and DeepSeek routed user queries through overseas transfer stations to its Claude model, using fake accounts and millions of real queries for distillation.
Anthropic has released a detailed account of how three Chinese AI firms – DeepSeek, Moonshot AI and MiniMax – are running large‑scale “distillation” attacks on its Claude model. According to the Wall Street Journal, the companies route user queries through “transfer stations” located outside China, then feed the responses back into their own systems. Anthropic says the effort involved thousands of fabricated accounts and millions of genuine user queries, with one internal document citing roughly 24 000 fake profiles used to harvest data.
The report shows DeepSeek prompting Claude to explain its reasoning step‑by‑step and then repurposing those explanations as training material. Moonshot and MiniMax employed similar tactics, effectively reverse‑engineering Claude despite the model not being commercially available in China. Anthropic’s disclosure comes amid a broader dispute with the U.S. Defense Department over the Pentagon’s use of its technology.
Why it matters is twofold. First, the attacks represent a systematic attempt to appropriate proprietary large‑language‑model knowledge, raising serious intellectual‑property and competitive‑security concerns for U.S. AI developers. Second, the use of offshore “transfer stations” sidesteps export‑control regimes, highlighting a loophole that could accelerate technology transfer between rival AI ecosystems.
As we reported on 10 September, Moonshot AI was already seeking dual listings in Hong Kong and Shanghai to broaden capital access. This new evidence of illicit data harvesting could pressure investors and regulators to scrutinise the firm’s governance practices more closely.
What to watch next includes Anthropic’s response – whether it will pursue legal action, tighten API access, or collaborate with policymakers – and how U.S. authorities might tighten export controls or impose sanctions on firms found to be facilitating such distillation pipelines. Follow‑up statements from the Chinese companies, which have not yet commented, will also be pivotal in shaping the next phase of the dispute.
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