Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE:BABA) stock is trading lower on Friday following reports that Anthropic accused the Chinese technology giant of executing a massive campaign to extract capabilities from its Claude AI models.
Distillation Campaign Identified by Anthropic
According to a June 10 letter reviewed by Reuters, Anthropic informed U.S. lawmakers, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.), that operators affiliated with Alibaba and its AI research unit, Qwen, conducted a large-scale “distillation” campaign between April 22 and June 5.
Distillation involves training a less advanced AI model using outputs generated by a more capable system. Anthropic alleged the operation relied on nearly 25,000 fraudulent accounts that produced more than 28.8 million exchanges with Claude to accelerate China’s development of systems approaching Anthropic’s Mythos Preview models.
Geopolitical Tensions Over AI Supremacy
The development comes amid heightened scrutiny over AI competition. In April, the White House accused China of systematically targeting intellectual property from leading American AI companies.
Additionally, the Commerce Department imposed restrictions on Anthropic’s Mythos and Fable models over concerns regarding access by foreign military or intelligence users.
Critical Technical Levels for Alibaba (BABA) Stock
The bigger picture remains firmly bearish: BABA is trading 20.1% below its 20-day SMA, 27.7% below its 50-day SMA, and 38.1% below its 200-day SMA, which keeps rallies vulnerable to selling into overhead supply.
The 20-day SMA is below the 50-day SMA, and the 50-day SMA is below the 200-day SMA (a "death cross" that occurred in April), reinforcing that the dominant trend is still down.
Momentum is extremely stretched, with RSI at 16.78—deep oversold territory that often signals selling pressure has become extended and may be due for a bounce or at least a pause.
RSI is a momentum gauge that helps show when a move has become "too far, too fast" to the downside, even if the broader trend hasn’t actually turned yet.
From a level perspective, the stock is also trading below its 52-week low of $94.71, which is a red flag because prior "support" can turn into resistance after it breaks. If buyers can’t reclaim that area, the chart continues to advertise weak control by bulls despite the oversold reading.
- Key Resistance: $94.71 — former 52-week low area that can act as overhead resistance after the breakdown
- Key Support: $92.00 — current price area acting as the immediate line traders are defending in premarket
BABA Price Action: Alibaba shares were trading down 3.25% at $91.98 during premarket trading on Friday. The stock is trading at a new 52-week low, according to Benzinga Pro data.
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