Alibaba Group will prohibit its employees from using Anthropic's Claude Code programming assistant starting July 10, according to multiple reports. The e‑commerce powerhouse classified the tool as high‑risk software and instructed staff to transition to its in‑house Qoder solution.
Anthropic, the developer of Claude Code, has long barred Chinese companies and foreign entities owned by Chinese firms from accessing its models. In recent weeks the firm has been tightening loopholes that permitted Chinese users to slip past those restrictions. A Reddit post highlighted one such loophole‑closing measure: a version of Claude Code capable of silently flagging Chinese users.
Anthropic's spokesperson, Thariq Shihipar, explained the experiment on X, saying it launched in March to curb account abuse by unauthorized resellers and to guard against “distillation”—the practice of training new models on outputs from existing ones. He added that stronger mitigations have since been implemented and that the company had intended to retire the experiment for some time.
Alibaba’s internal memo, obtained by reporters, labels Claude Code a "high‑risk" application. The memo urges developers to adopt Qoder, Alibaba’s own AI‑powered coding assistant, which the company says meets its security standards. No official comment was received from Anthropic regarding the ban.
The ban underscores a broader push by Chinese regulators and corporations to tighten control over foreign AI technologies. While Anthropic’s policies already restrict Chinese entities, the company’s recent technical steps suggest a proactive approach to enforce those limits.
Industry observers note that the move may compel other multinational AI firms to reassess how they grant access to customers in jurisdictions with heightened security concerns. For Alibaba, the decision aligns with its ongoing efforts to safeguard proprietary data and maintain compliance with emerging AI governance frameworks.
Employees at Alibaba will have a brief window to migrate existing projects from Claude Code to Qoder before the July 10 deadline. The company plans to offer training sessions on the new tool to ensure a smooth transition.
Cet article a été rédigé avec l'assistance de l'IA.
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