Anthropic’s AI models have lost another group of major banking users in Hong Kong after JPMorgan restricted employees’ access to Claude under the terms of the company’s license.
summary
- JPMorgan has restricted employees’ access to Anthropic’s Claude models in Hong Kong, following a similar decision by Goldman Sachs.
- The reported restriction stems from Anthropic’s license terms, which exclude use throughout Greater China, including Hong Kong.
Financial Times I mentioned JPMorgan Chase employees in Hong Kong can no longer select Anthropic’s Claude models from the bank’s internal list of approved large language models.
Three people familiar with the matter told the publication that the restriction stems from language in Anthropic’s licensing agreement. JPMorgan based the move on conditions governing where the models can be used, one of the people familiar with the decision said.
This development follows a similar decision taken by Goldman Sachs earlier this year. The Financial Times previously reported that Goldman banned Hong Kong bankers from using human models after deciding that Anthropic’s terms of service excluded use across Greater China, including Hong Kong.
Anthropic has not issued an official statement, but the company previously told The Financial Times that Claude had no official support in Hong Kong. JPMorgan declined to comment.
Access to Hong Kong faces new restrictions
Western AI companies have generally restricted direct access to their more advanced models in mainland China. OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude are not available due to a combination of company policies and internet controls in China.
Hong Kong has historically operated with fewer internet restrictions than mainland China. International companies have often gained access to leading AI models through global enterprise agreements and infrastructure hosted outside China.
Access restrictions at major financial institutions have renewed concerns about Hong Kong’s ability to remain competitive as artificial intelligence tools become more deeply integrated into software development, research and financial services workflows, the Financial Times reported.
Anthropic’s approach to geographic restrictions comes as U.S. AI companies face increasing scrutiny over how advanced models are used outside the United States. Industry observers and policymakers have expressed concerns that foreign users could use frontier systems to accelerate the development of domestic AI through a process known as modularization.
Anthropic navigates multiple challenges
Banking restrictions arrive less than a week after Anthropic hanging Access to the newly released Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models.
Anthropic announced on June 13 that it had disabled both systems after receiving guidance from the US government on export controls. The company said authorities had ordered it to deny access to the models to all foreign nationals, including foreign employees working within the United States.
Anthropic reported at the time that officials were concerned about a potential jailbreaking technique that might allow models to identify or fix software vulnerabilities. The company disputed the significance of the reported problem and said it believed the government action may have been the result of a misunderstanding.
Just two days later, Anthropic became the target of the proposal Class action It was filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. The complaint alleges that subscribers to the company’s $100 per month Max 5x plans and $200 per month Max 20x Claude plans received significantly less usage of marketing materials than customers expected.
Plaintiff Karl Kahn is seeking class-action status on behalf of customers who have paid for Anthropic’s premium Claude subscriptions since April 2024. The filing argues that the usage limits imposed on subscribers do not match the multipliers promoted in the plans.
These controversies emerged shortly after Anthropic publicly called for stronger regulation of frontier AI systems. In its June 11 issue titled “Exponential Artificial Intelligence Policy” an offerThe company urged governments to establish testing requirements, independent evaluations, cybersecurity standards and implementation mechanisms for more advanced AI models.
In this proposal, Anthropic argued that border systems could create biological risks, cybersecurity risks, and operational risks that require close oversight as AI capabilities continue to advance.
