Goldman Sachs blocks Hong Kong staff from using Anthropic's Claude amid US-China AI tensions

Goldman Staff in Hong Kong Lose Access to Anthropic's Claude

The move raises questions for Hong Kong's status as a global financial center, if other institutions are forced to block the usage of AI tools in the city. Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s staff in Hong Kong no longer have access to Anthropic's Claude, an AI agent that speeds the process of writing computer software, according to a person familiar with the matter. The restriction is location specific and staff visiting from overseas and spending time in Hong Kong will not be able to access Claude while in the city, the person said, adding that the technology was predominantly used by software engineers. The Financial Times first reported on the bank stopping staff from using the AI model. A spokesman for the bank declined to comment. US AI companies are concerned about their models being used in China. OpenAI has warned US lawmakers that its Chinese rival DeepSeek is using unfair and increasingly sophisticated methods to extract results from leading US AI models to train the next generation of its breakthrough R1 chatbot. The restrictions also raise questions for Hong Kong's status as a global financial center, if other institutions are forced to block the usage of AI tools in the city. Local regulators have been trying to resolve some of the confusion around AI in Hong Kong, a city that's caught up in the US-Chinese technology conflict. At the same time, Anthropic's Mythos tool has sparked widespread concern among regulators across the globe. For now, Anthropic has limited the release of it to just a few major technology and finance firms. Those companies, which include Amazon.com Inc. and Apple Inc. as well as JPMorgan Chase & Co., are part of "Project Glasswing," which will work to secure the most important systems before other similar AI models become available.

Goldman Sachs bars Hong Kong bankers from using Anthropic AI, source says

April 28 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs (GS.N), opens new tab has removed access to Anthropic's AI models for its bankers in Hong Kong, a source with direct knowledge said. Employees of the U.S. bank in the Chinese territory were previously able to interact with Anthropic's Claude through an internal AI platform but in recent weeks they have no longer had access, according to the source. The Financial Times first reported the removal of access to Claude on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. Goldman's move came as a result of the U.S. ⁠bank taking a strict interpretation of its contract with Anthropic following a consultation with the company, concluding that the bank's employees in Hong Kong should not be able to use any Anthropic products, the report said. Other mainstream models such as Gemini and ChatGPT were still available on the internal platform, the source told Reuters. They declined to be named because they were not authorised to speak to the media. Goldman Sachs declined to comment. Anthropic did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for ⁠comment. While AI models like ChatGPT and Claude, built by U.S. firms, are prohibited in mainland China, Hong Kong has mostly remained outside these controls, with usage limits set by U.S. companies themselves. Anthropic's spokesperson told the FT that its Claude models had never been officially "supported" ⁠in Hong Kong but declined to comment further. The decision did not extend to contracts with other AI vendors such as OpenAI, the newspaper added. The Hong Kong government and Hong Kong ⁠Monetary Authority did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Goldman Sachs' Chief Information Officer Marco Argenti said in February that the bank was working with ⁠Anthropic to develop AI-powered agents aimed at automating a widening range of internal functions. Reporting by Fabiola Arámburo in Mexico City, Selena Li and Anne Marie Roantree in Hong Kong; Editing by Tasim Zahid, Stephen Coates and Kate Mayberry Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

Goldman Sachs stops bankers using Anthropic's Claude in Hong Kong

Goldman Sachs has stopped its bankers in Hong Kong from using Anthropic's AI models, in the latest sign of how the emerging technology is brushing up against US-China tensions. Employees of the Wall Street bank in the Chinese territory were unable to access Claude models either directly via the in-house artificial intelligence platforms as of a few weeks ago, according to four sources familiar with the situation. Western AI models such as OpenAI's ChatGPT and Claude are banned in mainland China as part of the so-called Great Firewall. But Hong Kong has long operated mostly outside of Chinese censors and restrictions on usage are imposed by the US AI companies themselves. One person familiar with Goldman's move said it came as a result of the US bank taking a strict interpretation of its contract with Anthropic following a consultation with the Silicon Valley start-up. That reading concluded that Goldman employees in Hong Kong should not be able to use any Anthropic products. The person said this did not extend to contracts with other AI vendors such as OpenAI. A spokesperson for Anthropic said its Claude models had never been officially "supported" in Hong Kong but declined to comment further. Goldman declined to comment. American AI companies are wary of usage of their models in China in part due to the threat of "distillation" in which local actors could train new models through intensive usage of foreign ones. OpenAI last year accused Chinese rival DeepSeek of using its models to train its own model, while the White House this month accused China of undertaking "industrial-scale" theft of US AI labs' intellectual property. No evidence has been disclosed to support OpenAI's claim, while the Chinese embassy in Washington said the White House accusations were "pure slander". The new curb on Goldman bankers' usage of Claude could represent a challenge for Hong Kong as a revived financial and knowledge hub if employees, especially those who use Claude for coding and financial modelling, are unable to access the most advanced models and risk falling behind other teams or organisations. It also poses questions for other companies and institutions in the former British territory that have enterprise deals with Anthropic globally and continue to use its models in Hong Kong. The FT could not confirm whether other banks or companies have also decided to restrict access. Hong Kong remains the hub for investment banking and finance across Greater China for most global banks, which use the territory as a place to co-ordinate cross-border activity including trading, M&A and share sales. The crackdown on Anthropic models also comes as the start-up's new Mythos AI model has raised concern among governments and companies worldwide that it could crack current cyber security systems and pose risks to the global financial system. With additional contributions by Cheng Leng in Beijing

Goldman stops Hong Kong bankers from using Claude

This content has been selected, created and edited by the Finextra editorial team based upon its relevance and interest to our community. The US bank's staffers on the island were able to use Claude via an internal AI platform until a few weeks ago, reports the Financial Times. Goldman employees in the Chinese territory still have access to other AI models, such as ChatGPT and Gemini. According to the FT, citing sources, the change came after Goldman consulted with Anthropic and took a strict interpretation of its contract with the AI firm and concluded staff in Hong Kong should not be allowed to use any of its products. The ban on Claude comes amid growing tensions between the US and China over AI. Last week, the US government issued a warning about Chinses firms allegedly stealing the technology. Models from US firms are not available in mainland China but some are in use by American companies in Hong Kong. However, according to Anthropic's own website, Hong Kong is not listed as a market where its API and Claude.ai ⁠are officially accessible. Anthropic has also recently been at the centre of concerns about the safety of AI thanks to its latest model, Mythos, which can reportedly expose cybersecurity vulnerabilities faster than humans.

Goldman Sachs bars Hong Kong bankers from Anthropic AI use, FT reports - The Economic Times

Goldman Sachs has barred its bankers in Hong Kong from using Anthropic's AI models, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. Employees of the US bank were unable ⁠to ⁠access Claude models as of a few weeks ago, the newspaper added, citing four sources. While AI models like ChatGPT and Claude, built by US firms, are prohibited in mainland China, Hong Kong has mostly remained outside these controls, with usage limits set by ⁠US companies themselves. Anthropic's spokesperson told the FT that its Claude models had never been officially "supported" in ⁠Hong Kong but declined to comment further. Goldman's move came as a result of the U.S. bank taking a strict interpretation of its contract with Anthropic following a consultation with the company, concluding that the bank's employees in Hong Kong should not be able to use any Anthropic products, the report said. The decision did not extend to contracts with other AI vendors such as OpenAI, the ⁠newspaper added. Goldman Sachs and Anthropic did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. Goldman Sachs' chief information officer Marco Argenti said in February that the bank was working with Anthropic to develop AI-powered agents aimed at automating a widening range of internal functions.