alt Hacker Newsi don't see them making any claim that unauthorized use of their proprietary content is illegal.
i read this more as a claim to protect their brand and valuation. They just want us all to know that we shouldn't be too impressed by deepseek, because deepseek is training off claude.
also, i think this blog post should be read in the context of anthropic execs meeting with Pete Hegseth today - this isn't legal, it's political, they're playing up the national security aspects here for some political benefit.
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Yeah the blog post isn't saying distillation is illegal, it's saying that it should be illegal:
> These [distillation] campaigns are growing in intensity and sophistication. The window to act is narrow, and the threat extends beyond any single company or region. Addressing it will require rapid, coordinated action among industry players, policymakers, and the global AI community.
> Illicitly distilled models lack necessary safeguards, creating significant national security risks. Anthropic and other US companies build systems that prevent state and non-state actors from using AI to, for example, develop bioweapons or carry out malicious cyber activities. Models built through illicit distillation are unlikely to retain those safeguards, meaning that dangerous capabilities can proliferate with many protections stripped out entirely.
> Anthropic has consistently supported export controls to help maintain America’s lead in AI. Distillation attacks undermine those controls by allowing foreign labs, including those subject to the control of the Chinese Communist Party, to close the competitive advantage that export controls are designed to preserve through other means.
> industrial-scale distillation attacks
> fraudulent accounts
These are not terms used to describe regular users of your software.
This tweet is 100% going to show up in court (whether in the current crop of cases or future ones) as an example of Anthropic accepting that copyright infringement and unauthorized use hurts their business as an IP holder.