Impact of Anthropic’s China ban unlikely to ‘move the needle’, expert says
Other US tech firms, including OpenAI and Google, have already barred mainland Chinese customers from accessing their services
US artificial intelligence start-up Anthropic’s ban on China-backed entities’ access to its models was not expected to deter mainland firms nor hamper their progress in the field, according to industry experts and analysts.
“When it comes to the impact on China’s [AI] competitiveness and development, I don’t think it will move the needle very much,” said Ben Reynolds, a Rhodium Group analyst specialising in US and China semiconductor competition.
While noting that the move was consistent with Anthropic’s stance of advocating restricted Chinese access to US AI and chip technologies, Reynolds said mainland companies had been “extremely innovative” in developing AI models.
In early September, Anthropic tightened its service terms to restrict access for “entities that are more than 50 per cent owned, directly or indirectly, by companies headquartered in unsupported regions”, which included China.
“This update prohibits companies or organisations whose ownership structures subject them to control from jurisdictions where our products are not permitted, like China, regardless of where they operate,” the San Francisco-based company said in a statement.