David Sacks, a prominent investor and the White House AI and crypto czar, announced on X today, October 13, 2026, that Anthropic has dramatically improved its data security protocols for its Claude AI model. Sacks stated that "Anthropic says it has reduced the data harvested from Claude in distillation attacks by around 90–99%." He congratulated the company on this achievement, noting it validates his previous argument that private companies are best positioned to address such technical challenges.
Sacks' comments come during ongoing discussions about AI regulation and intellectual property protection for large language models. Earlier this year, concerns over AI data distillation led to a significant push in Washington for restrictions on open models. This prompted 50 companies, including major players like Nvidia and Microsoft, to sign an open letter defending open-weight models, a position promoted by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Recent Gokhshtein Media coverage has highlighted the chip weakness dragging tech stocks, with Nvidia down 1.3% today, ahead of earnings season.
Sacks' view suggests that the administration's decision not to impose broad restrictions on open models allowed companies like Anthropic to innovate and solve problems internally. He implies that restricting open models could have stifled competition and reduced incentives for closed-model companies to invest in their own defenses. This perspective indicates that further technical challenges in AI might be best addressed by industry-led solutions rather than immediate government intervention.
