Anthropic accuses Chinese rivals of Claude-napping

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• Anthropic hits back at Claude distillers: In a blog post on Monday, the AI giant accuses three high-profile Chinese companies — DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, and MiniMax — of using Claude’s system and information to train and refine their own models, via a process called “distillation.” While there are perfectly white hat reasons to distill large AI models — producing smaller and more fast/efficient alternatives, for example — according to Anthropic, their open-source Chinese rivals are using the tactic to re-purpose their work into new products, at lower costs. According to Anthropic’s data, these three Chinese firms created more than 24,000 “fraudulent” Claude accounts, while engaging in hundreds of thousands or even millions of interactions each. Anthropic’s not the only US AI company making this case; OpenAI sent a memo to lawmakers just weeks ago making similar accusations against DeepSeek specifically.

• WSJ exposes startup valuation hack: According to the Journal, AI startups have started stacking funding rounds back to back as a way of goosing valuations. They story uses Serval — a platform developing groups of AI agents that automate basic IT services — as an example. The company was worth $220 million in October, raised a round in December at a $400 million valuation, then just days later, announced another round at a $1 billion valuation, rocketing them into unicorn status overnight. For Serval and Sequoia, which led that first December round, the tactic was a win-win: Sequoia locks in a massive gain on paper immediately, and Serval more than doubles in value. It does, however, create some uncertainty for the rest of us about what these AI companies are actually worth, beyond the hype.

• IQM prepping a public debut: The Finnish startup develops full-stack quantum computers based on superconducting technology, with a specific eye on commercial applications. The plan is to merge the firm with Real Asset Acquisition Corp., a “blank check vehicle” based in the US, designed around real estate and technology infrastructure deals specifically. While a lot of work in quantum computing has been largely theoretical or academic, more and more companies are following IQM’s path and thinking about direct applications in fields like cybersecurity, finance, and the kinds of medical/scientific R&D (such as new drug therapies). That, in turn, has sparked additional interest from investors, driving deals just like this one.

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The pod has been a bit of an AI love-fest of late, with Jason marveling over all the potential applications for his OpenClaw agents, and wondering aloud how to give them even more responsibility and autonomy across LAUNCH and his other projects.

But not everyone is feeling equally optimistic about the bots. A blog post from Citrini Research cautions that AI advancement could be leading us into a worldwide economic collapse, or what the authors term a “Global Intelligence Crisis,” and triggered a major sell-off of tech, payment, and software stocks.

The argument goes like this: AI tools replace white-collar tasks, allowing companies to do more with fewer staffers, leading to massive layoffs. A vast new category of unemployed workers hurts the economy, as millions of consumers now have less to spend. These network effects also multiply over time. First, consumers spend less on dining out or vacations, but eventually, they start defaulting on credit card payments or mortgages.

At the same time, AI tools allow consumers who do still have jobs to save money, further hurting companies that rely on laziness, habit, or ignorance for recurring revenue. If your AI agent helps you with meal prep, you order less from DoorDash. If your AI agent helps you renegotiate your auto insurance rates every year, that hurts Geico’s bottom line. And so on.

We’re already seeing the negative impact of mass AI adoption on the software industry, where investors simply assume that OpenClaw skills will replace the need for monthly subscription platforms. Surely there are more business niches that will be undermined by the AI explosion over time. Just today, IBM shares dropped 11% following news that Anthropic announced Claude Code can now program in COBOL (Common Business-Oriented Language).

Essentially, the piece warns that remarkable advancements in productivity won’t matter unless we find ways for some of those earnings to trickle down to everyday people, rather than just cutting down on expenditures by large enterprises. Perhaps these predictions will not come to pass, and we’ll all just start working 4-day weeks instead… but it’s worth exploring the other side of the AI optimism coin for a change. – Lon

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This Week in Startups

E2253: Alright, you’ve finally got OpenClaw set up, and you’re not blowing hundreds of dollars a day on tokens any more like a sucker. But how do you get your agents to really do productive work for you, rather than just goofing around and building themselves new interfaces? We’re checking in with new projects from Jordy Coltman, Jesse Leimgruber of OpenHome, and Tremaine Grant of Pulse, to learn how expert builders are getting lots more out of their OpenClaw set-ups.

E2252: OpenClaw Mania continues with Alex and a trio of expert builders: YouTuber Matthew Berman, NextVisit co-founder Ryan Yannelli, and Massive CEO/co-founder Jason Grad. They’re showing off their own personal projects, and also discussing what it’s going to take to get mainstream people as excited about OpenClaw as startup founders and tech nerds. Will there be a killer iPhone app bringing OpenClaw to the masses, or is this another geeky trend that will never hit the monoculture?

E0001: That’s right, it’s the FIRST EVER episode of our brand-new spinoff series, “This Week in AI”! On Episode 1 (“The Claw Awakens”), Jason welcomes an expert panel of AI-first founders — including Mitesh Agrawal of Positron, Kash Ali of TaxGPT, and Alex Elias of Qloo — to discuss the rise of OpenClaw, and how AI agents can move beyond helpful time savers and into full-on teammates and collaborators.

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