News in Short
- Alibaba has reportedly banned employees from using Anthropic’s Claude Code at work.
- The company has asked staff to use its own AI coding platform, Qoder.
- The move follows Anthropic’s accusations of AI model distillation.
- Claude Code recently came under scrutiny for identifying China-linked users.
- The development highlights growing AI competition between the US and China.
Alibaba has reportedly instructed its employees to stop using Anthropic’s AI coding assistant, Claude Code, at work. Instead, the Chinese technology giant is directing staff to use its in-house coding platform, Qoder. The move comes as tensions between Alibaba and Anthropic continue to rise over allegations of AI model distillation and growing concerns around access restrictions for Chinese users.
According to a Reuters report, the decision reflects the increasingly competitive race between Chinese and US AI companies as both countries push to lead the next generation of artificial intelligence.
Why Has Alibaba Banned Claude Code?
The reported ban follows Anthropic’s allegations that Alibaba attempted to extract capabilities from its Claude AI models through a process known as model distillation.
Model distillation involves training a smaller AI model using outputs generated by a more advanced model. Anthropic claims such techniques could help competitors build capable AI systems more quickly.
Reuters reported that Anthropic raised these concerns in a letter sent to two US senators last month. Alibaba has not publicly responded to the allegations.
What Is Claude Code?
Claude Code is Anthropic’s AI-powered coding assistant designed to help software developers write, debug, and improve code.
Despite Anthropic restricting access to users and organizations in China, the tool has gained popularity among developers in the country through various workarounds.
According to Reuters, Alibaba employees have now been instructed to switch to Qoder, the company’s own AI coding platform.
Another Reason Behind the Ban
The latest dispute also centers on a feature recently discovered in Claude Code.
Developers found that the coding assistant could inspect user environments, including timezone settings and proxy-related information. It reportedly added subtle markers to prompts sent back to Anthropic’s servers.
Anthropic later confirmed that the feature was introduced as an experiment in March. The company said it was designed to detect account abuse, prevent unauthorized resellers, and protect its AI models from distillation attempts.
However, the feature drew criticism from some developers, particularly in China, where access restrictions have already created friction.
The Bigger US-China AI Battle
The latest development reflects the broader AI rivalry between the United States and China.
As US companies tighten access to advanced AI models, many Chinese firms are increasingly investing in domestic alternatives.
Alibaba continues to expand its Qwen family of AI models, while other Chinese companies have backed models from DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, and Zhipu AI.
At the same time, Chinese AI models have started attracting users outside China, including in the US, raising concerns among some American industry experts about growing global competition.
What Happens Next?
Neither Alibaba nor Anthropic has officially commented on the reported employee ban.
However, the dispute highlights how geopolitical tensions are increasingly influencing AI development, enterprise software choices, and developer ecosystems.
As governments introduce stricter AI regulations and companies protect their proprietary models, organizations may increasingly favor homegrown AI platforms over foreign alternatives. The latest move by Alibaba suggests that the competition between US and Chinese AI leaders is shifting beyond model performance to include workplace policies, cybersecurity, and strategic technology independence.
