Dark-web distillation drives copycat AI scramble, Anthropic warns of China-linked theft

Anthropic says foreign actors, including Chinese labs like Moonshot AI, are illicitly distilling its Claude models to train cheaper copycats and sell them, often via the dark web using stolen credentials; the issue spans Iran, Russia and North Korea as well and has sparked regulatory debate in the U.S. while Anthropic’s valuation nears $1 trillion and hints at an IPO.