AI tracker: Data theft and robotaxis in focus

US AI giants say Chinese rivals are stealing data

US AI company Anthropic says it has uncovered campaigns by three Chinese AI firms to illicitly extract capabilities from its Claude chatbot, AFP reported, in what it described as industrial-scale intellectual property theft. Anthropic said DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, and MiniMax used a technique known as “distillation”—using outputs from a more powerful AI system to rapidly boost the performance of a less capable one. Anthropic’s rival OpenAI, creator of ChatGPT, made similar accusations to US lawmakers earlier this month.

Robotaxis are coming to London

A Ford Mustang Mach-E, an autonomous vehicle from British startup Wayve Technologies, is on a test run in London ahead of the U.K. government’s robotaxi trials set to launch in the spring. Tech companies including U.S. company Waymo and China’s Baidu also plan to take part in the pilot program, making London the latest arena in the global robotaxi competition. While self-driving cabs aren’t new, London’s ancient road layout and busy streetscapes could pose special challenges for the technology. There’s also scepticism from London’s famed black cab drivers. Self-driving taxis are “a solution looking for a problem,” said Steven McNamara, general secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association, which represents black cabbies.

French stars warn against ‘AI plunder’

Just days before France’s version of the Oscars, thousands of French actors and filmmakers have warned that AI tools are “plundering” talent across the industry. “We are facing a profound upheaval in our profession with the arrival of artificial intelligence,” said the op-ed in Le Parisien, which was signed by some 4,000 artists. Signatories included many of French cinema’s brightest and best, such as actors Swann Arlaud, Franck Dubosc and Elodie Bouchez. While artificial intelligence was “extraordinarily valuable in certain fields”, they said it was a “devouring hydra for artists like us”. The op-ed, released ahead of the 51st edition of the French film industry’s Cesar Awards, warned of the rise of “unauthorised voice cloning” which has taken the industry by storm, AFP reported.