US Data Brokers Selling Half a Billion in AI Training Data to China

US data brokers such as Mercor, Surge AI, and AfterQuery are selling approximately half a billion dollars' worth of AI training data to Chinese labs, according to a ChinaTalk investigation. This includes reinforcement learning environments previously developed for OpenAI and Anthropic, raising concerns about the competitive implications of these transactions in the AI market. At least nine firms are involved in this deal, and it appears that export controls are minimally applicable, potentially paving the way for increased collaboration between American and Chinese companies in AI.