After Anthropic's models being restricted and then unrestricted for foreign nationals, a report from Reuters suggests that the Chinese government is interested in restricting access to the country's most advanced artificial intelligence models as well. Officials are interested in applying China's tough national security laws to the advanced artificial intelligence technologies and have held discussions with several leading technology companies in the country.
China is Worried About Capabilities of Anthropic's Mythos Models to Exploit Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities
According to the details, the Chinese government has held meetings with firms including Alibaba and ByteDance to restrict access to the country's leading artificial intelligence models. The discussions come as the US tightens its control of leading AI models, especially those from the frontier laboratory, Anthropic.
The report comes as China is increasingly restricting access to local companies for foreign firms. In April, the country's regulators stopped social media giant Meta Platforms from completing its $2 billion purchase of artificial intelligence startup Manus. Meta had announced the deal in December 2025 and the Chinese Ministry of Commerce had started its investigation into the deal in January 2026.
Among the discussions taking place inside Beijing are charging those with stealing or leaking proprietary Chinese artificial intelligence technology under the country's national security law, according to Reuters' sources. Additionally, not only is China looking to restrict access to its AI models, but the success of Anthropic's Mythos AI has also left the country worried about the security of its cyber infrastructure.
Mythos created quite a bit of stir earlier this year after Anthropic previewed its capabilities. The lab outlined that Mythos was able to identify decades-old software bugs along with "thousands of additional high- and critical-severity vulnerabilities." The firm's CEO, Dario Amodei, commented that his models were dangerous, which was followed by restrictions on them by the US government, which prevented foreign nationals, even those working for Anthropic, from accessing the software.
China's AI software firm 360 Security Technology unveiled its counterparts to Mythos in late June. The two models aim towards detecting and protecting against cybersecurity threats and exploiting vulnerabilities in software targets.
With the AI race shaping up to be another avenue of competition between the US and China, Chinese lab DeepSeek is also interested in developing custom AI chips. US firm NVIDIA's products remain the highest-performance AI chips in the world and sanctions on advanced chip manufacturing technology have also limited China's ability to develop local chips capable of matching NVIDIA's products.
About the author: Ramish is a seasoned technology writer and editor with more than a decade of experience. He specializes in semiconductor fabrication and market analysis. With a background in finance and supply chain management - via his bachelors in Finance and a micromasters in supply chain management from MIT - Ramish combines financial rigor with deep industry insight to deliver accurate and authoritative coverage.
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