US Anthropic ban is best advert for Chinese AI

Bankers working for JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong must have been miffed when they were shut off from using artificial intelligence (AI) models from Anthropic, a pioneering American firm in the field.

Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase pulled the plug in April and last week respectively, based on a strict interpretation of Anthropic’s terms of use, which reflect Washington’s stringent restrictions on China’s access to frontier American AI models.

The banks’ decisions are seen as a potential blow to the competitiveness of the city’s financial sector. In a report, the Financial Times warned that, “Preventing access to the world’s most advanced AI models represents a threat to Hong Kong’s revival as an international financial centre, given their rapid adoption in other parts of the world, particularly for coding.”

The export control directive gave Anthropic just 90 minutes to shut off access, citing national security concerns.

As events unfold, China’s AI industry may emerge as the real winner. If foreigners can’t use America’s most advanced AI models, most will just switch to the “good enough” ones developed by Chinese firms, which charge a fraction of the cost.