Alibaba Orders Staff to Drop Anthropic Claude Code Over Security Fears

Alibaba will bar employees from using Anthropic’s AI tools starting July 10, citing alleged back-door security risks.

The Chinese group has added the firm’s coding tool to a high-risk software list, CNBC reported. Staff must remove Anthropic’s models from work computers and switch to Alibaba’s own assistant, Qoder.

Why Alibaba Cut Off Claude Code

The ban landed days after developers flagged that Claude Code had inspected users’ time zones and proxy data. It also allegedly inserted subtle markers into prompts sent to Anthropic’s servers.

The friction marks a deepening dispute between the two companies. In June, Anthropic wrote to the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. The letter accused Alibaba of trying to extract its AI capabilities.

Anthropic described the effort as the largest known distillation attack against it to date. Distillation refers to using a developed model’s outputs to train a rival system at lower cost.

The standoff mirrors warnings Anthropic itself has raised about the US-China AI race. The company has urged tighter export controls and a crackdown on distillation to preserve an American lead through 2028.

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Meanwhile, Alibaba’s decision fits a broader tightening of domestic AI oversight. The country’s internet regulator recently removed more than 14,000 AI products in the first phase of a campaign called Qinglang.

That sweep also suspended over 26,000 accounts and scrubbed millions of pieces of flagged content. Alibaba was among the tech giants that adjusted its systems to meet the new rules.

For now, the practical effect is a clean split. Alibaba engineers lose access to a leading US coding tool, while Anthropic loses a foothold inside one of China’s largest technology firms. 

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