JPMorgan Chase restricts Hong Kong staff access to Anthropic AI

JPMorgan Chase has stopped its staff in Hong Kong from accessing Anthropic's AI models, a move signaling intense scrutiny on the technology's use outside the U.S., according to the Financial Times. The decision was prompted by the wording of Anthropic's usage terms in its licensing agreement with JPMorgan, leading the bank to remove Claude models from an internal list of approved large language models for employees in the Asian financial hub.

This follows a similar action by Goldman Sachs in April, which removed Claude from its list of approved tools for its Hong Kong-based bankers. The restrictions by both Wall Street banks come amid rising U.S.-China tensions over AI technology, data security, and access to advanced computing tools. While AI models from U.S. firms are generally unavailable in mainland China, Hong Kong has often been a market where some models operate under usage limits set by U.S. companies.

Earlier this week, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick ordered Anthropic to suspend exports of its Mythos and Fable AI models worldwide and to all foreign nationals, citing concerns about potential use by military intelligence in China, Russia, and other countries of concern. U.S. President Donald Trump stated that negotiations with Anthropic are proceeding well.