‘China already has spies’ at US AI labs, claims ex-Anthropic researcher

Read the original at South China Morning Post ↗
South China Morning Post · collected 2026-10-08 · by Nayan Seth

Quick Summary

Jacob Coxon, formerly of Anthropic, claims that China already has spies within U.S. artificial intelligence labs like OpenAI and Anthropic. He warns that despite advancements by American companies, China can quickly close the technological gap through espionage and hacking. According to Coxon, this capability means the United States cannot sustain a significant lead in AI technology over the long term.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-08, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

Jacob Coxon, an ex-researcher from Anthropic, claims that China already has spies within leading US AI labs like OpenAI and Anthropic. According to Coxon, Beijing could close the technological gap with the United States by stealing progress at any time through these means. He warns that even if the U.S. makes significant advancements in AI, China can quickly catch up due to its ability to infiltrate and steal technology.coxon specifically notes that China has the capability to hack into these labs whenever it chooses, undermining efforts to maintain a technological edge over Beijing.

Written for “Chinese Spies in US AI Labs” on 2026-10-08, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The model judged this article politically coded and scored it +0.35, but all 3 of its quote(s) are attributed speech - words the article quotes from someone, not the article's own narration, so the score is not published.
Written under an earlier scoring contract, which gave a paragraph rather than checkable quotes. Re-analysing this article replaces it.
Leaning score withheld for article 64327: attributed speech only · logged 2026-10-08

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
5
claim-shaped sentences
Uncertain
20%
1 of 5 hedged
Leaning
withheld
no quote in the article backed the model's score
Correction & hedging signals
66.7
corrections and hedging in what we collected; not a measure of accuracy
Outlets on this story
1
Politics
Narrative spread
1
articles carrying this framing
Analyzed 2026-10-08 · how these are computed

Story

📰 Chinese Spies in US AI Labs
Politics · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 20% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Washington Examiner
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 24% hedged 4 of 17 📰 publisher trust 72
“The articles describe different statements made by Jacob Coxon on separate occasions.”
Washington Examiner
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 2% hedged 1 of 55 📰 publisher trust 72
“The articles discuss different aspects of AI development in the US and China without describing the same specific incident.”
Washington Examiner
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 23% hedged 10 of 43 📰 publisher trust 72
“The articles discuss different claims made by Jacob Coxon on separate occasions.”
CBS News
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 4 📰 publisher trust 66
“The articles discuss different aspects of testimony given by an ex-Anthropic researcher but describe distinct claims and do not appear to refer to the same specific incident.”

Publisher

South China Morning Post · 1826 article(s) · 4 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 4 correction(s)
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Who wrote this

Nayan Seth
16 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 ‘China already has spies’ at US AI labs, claims ex-Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon alleges Beijing can close any technological gap with the US as it has ways to ‘steal our progress at any time and catch up’ “Right now, if we just stopped, they would try and catch up.
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🔮 Last week, the South China Morning Post reported that Washington and Beijing would fold AI discussions into a broader economic meeting.
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Also by Nayan Seth
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 16 articles by Nayan Seth →

Topics

Anthropic Beijing China OpenAI

Subjects

China GPE · 3× Anthropic ORG · 1× Beijing GPE · 1× Coxon PERSON · 1× Jacob Coxon PERSON · 1× OpenAI ORG · 1×

Narrative

But I think one really important thing people don’t realise is that China already has spies at OpenAI and Anthropic,” Coxon said.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-08
🔮 ‘China already has spies’ at US AI labs, claims ex-Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon alleges Beijing can close any technological gap with the US as it has ways to ‘steal our progress at any time and catch up’ “Right now, if we just stopped, they would try and catch up.
2026-10-08 · South China Morning Post
‘China already has spies’ at US AI labs, claims ex-Anthropic researcher · assertive framing

Claims (5 extracted, 1 hedged)

‘China already has spies’ at US AI labs, claims ex-Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon alleges Beijing can close any technological gap with the US as it has ways to ‘steal our progress at any time and catch up’ “Right now, if we just stopped, they would try and catch up. uncertain
they → have → time
But I think one really important thing people don’t realise is that China already has spies at OpenAI and Anthropic,” Coxon said. asserted
Coxon → think → OpenAI
“China has the ability to hack at any time. asserted
China → have → time
If we pull ahead, that doesn’t give us a big lead. asserted
that → pull → lead
They can just step in, steal our progress at any time and catch up.” asserted
They → step → time
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