Nvidia says Anthropic is telling ‘tall stories’ in its protection of U.S. AI chip restrictions on China

Nvidia blasted Anthropic Thursday in an extraordinary public conflict over artificial intelligence coverage with U.S. chip export restrictions set to take impact.

“American firms should focus on innovation and rise to the challenge, rather than tell tall tales that large, heavy, and sensitive electronics are somehow smuggled in ‘baby bumps’ or ‘alongside live lobsters,’ ” a spokesperson for Nvidia mentioned.

Anthropic, the AI startup subsidized by way of billions from Amazon, argued for tighter controls and enforcement, pronouncing in a weblog submit Wednesday that Chinese smuggling techniques concerned chips hidden in “prosthetic baby bumps” and “packed alongside live lobsters.”

Chip restrictions from former President Joe Biden‘s time period, known as the “AI Diffusion Rule,” are set to take impact May 15. The rule places international export controls on complex AI chips and style weights to stop rival international locations like China from gaining floor in an escalating AI palms race.

President Donald Trump is reportedly operating on updating those restrictions, including any other layer of uncertainty to the already contentious coverage.

Anthropic, which is based closely on Nvidia {hardware} to coach its fashions, is looking for tighter restrictions that might restrict Nvidia’s in another country industry and earnings from chip gross sales.

Anthropic argued that compute get entry to is the important thing strategic chokepoint within the race to construct frontier AI. The corporate proposed reducing the export threshold for Tier 2 nations, tightening the foundations to scale back smuggling dangers, and extending investment for enforcement.

“Maintaining America’s compute advantage through export controls is essential for national security and economic prosperity,” Anthropic wrote.

In a sharply worded reaction to Anthropic, an Nvidia spokesperson blasted using coverage to restrict competitiveness.

“China, with half of the world’s AI researchers, has highly capable AI experts at every layer of the AI stack. America cannot manipulate regulators to capture victory in AI,” the spokesperson mentioned.