Anthropic · DeepSeek · Claude · U.S. · Anthropic
For example, frontier AI labs routinely distill their own models to create smaller, cheaper versions for their customers
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These campaigns are growing in intensity and sophistication.
Key facts
- On July 30, they reported three incidents in which Claude models gained unauthorized access to real computer systems
- In one case, a single proxy network managed more than 20,000 fraudulent accounts simultaneously, mixing distillation traffic with unrelated customer requests to make detection harder
- They're opening a research preview of the Model Hardware Standard (MHS), a shared specification for AI agents to safely operate physical devices, to a first group of scientific research labs
- When they released a new model during MiniMax’s active campaign, they pivoted within 24 hours, redirecting nearly half their traffic to capture capabilities from their latest system
Summary
These labs used a technique called “distillation,” which involves training a less capable model on the outputs of a stronger one. Illicitly distilled models lack necessary safeguards, creating significant national security risks. Foreign labs that distill American models can then feed these unprotected capabilities into military, intelligence, and surveillance systems—enabling authoritarian governments to deploy frontier AI for offensive cyber operations, disinformation campaigns, and mass surveillance. Anthropic has consistently supported export controls to help maintain America’s lead in AI.