Anthropic, the San Francisco-based AI company behind the Claude chatbot, announced Friday it will ban entities that are majority Chinese-owned from using its services, tightening restrictions on “authoritarian regions”.
The firm already blocks access from China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran, but said some groups have bypassed restrictions through subsidiaries in other countries. Under the updated rules, organizations more than 50 percent owned by companies in restricted jurisdictions will now be barred, regardless of where they operate.
Anthropic to stop selling AI services to majority Chinese-owned groups https://t.co/P7xyeSEqoo
— Financial Times (@FT) September 4, 2025
Anthropic, valued at $183 billion and backed heavily by Amazon, acknowledged the change could cost revenues in the “low hundreds of millions of dollars.” Still, executives framed the move as essential for AI safety and national security.
The decision comes as China accelerates its AI race. Domestic firms like DeepSeek, Alibaba, and Baidu have rolled out powerful chatbots, narrowing the gap with U.S. rivals.
We're announcing the Anthropic National Security and Public Sector Advisory Council, a bipartisan group of defense, intelligence, and policy experts who will help us support the U.S. government and closely allied democracies in maintaining our AI leadership. pic.twitter.com/Yl6dYvE2dS
— Anthropic (@AnthropicAI) August 27, 2025
