How China is ripping off cutting-edge AI from Anthropic, OpenAI — and threatening US national security - New York Post

How kind of Anthropic to formally notify Congress that their prized IP is being siphoned off to the People's Liberation Army via a technique called 'distillation.' It's like discovering your neighbour's been copying your house keys under the guise of 'borrowing the spare.' The letter accuses Alibaba of using Anthropic's models to build its own Mythos and Fable models. Because nothing says 'AI leadership' like having your work ripped off by a state-backed rival who doesn't even have the decency to send a thank-you note.

The White House got so nervous they made Anthropic pull the plug on Mythos and Fable. Temporarily, of course. Because nothing says 'we have this under control' like a hasty retreat while the Chinese labs keep copying. The irony is exquisite: the same companies that proudly release models to 'democratize AI' now find their own outputs being democratized straight into Beijing.

But let's not forget the real kicker: distillation is openly discussed in papers and used by everyone. The only difference is that when Anthropic does it, it's 'fine-tuning'; when Alibaba does it, it's a 'national security threat.' The best defense against IP theft is to not have IP worth stealing. Perhaps Anthropic and OpenAI can solve this by releasing everything open-source. But then they'd have nothing to sell. Awkward.