What Is a Distillation Attack? The Practical Guide to How AI Models Get Copied

Illustration showing a distillation attack where one AI model copies another model's knowledge through its outputs

In early July 2026, Alibaba told its employees to stop using Anthropic’s Claude Code and switch to an internal tool instead. The dispute behind that decision involves two separate accusations — one about hidden tracking code, and one about something called a “distillation attack.” The second term is the one most readers have never heard, … Read more