How People in China Keep Outsmarting Anthropic’s Geolocation Restrictions
Key takeaways
- In early June, Anthropic publicly released Fable 5, a safeguarded version of its most powerful AI model to date, Mythos.
- Chinese people generally can access other Western AI tools, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, by using virtual private networks, foreign phone numbers, and international payment methods to create and maintain their accounts.
- The cat-and-mouse game has fueled a thriving underground economy for Claude access in China.
Why this matters: a development in AI with implications for how people work, create, and decide.
Photo-Illustration: Darrell Jackson; Getty Images Comment Loader Save Story Save this story Comment Loader Save Story Save this story Anthropic goes to great lengths to prevent people in China from using its AI models, but in practice, its safeguards have often failed. Over the past year, startups, researchers, and tech enthusiasts across the country have developed increasingly sophisticated workarounds to access Claude. Many of them consider it the world’s most capable AI assistant, making the extra effort to obtain it worthwhile.
In early June, Anthropic publicly released Fable 5, a safeguarded version of its most powerful AI model to date, Mythos. Chinese social media immediately lit up with posts from people sharing their impressions after trying it out. (Anthropic revoked access to the model worldwide a few days later in response to export controls imposed by the Trump administration).
Chinese people generally can access other Western AI tools, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, by using virtual private networks, foreign phone numbers, and international payment methods to create and maintain their accounts. But Anthropic has arguably taken more aggressive steps, such as banning accounts that it suspects are owned and controlled by people located in China. On Chinese social media, users frequently report that they have been suspended from Claude without warning, despite taking those precautions.