US data brokers, including firms such as Mercor, Surge AI, and AfterQuery, are reportedly selling reinforcement learning (RL) training environments valued at approximately half a billion dollars to Chinese artificial intelligence laboratories, according to The Decoder.
The RL environments being sold include those originally developed for major AI companies like OpenAI and Anthropic. At least nine firms are involved in facilitating these transactions, which appear to operate with minimal restrictions from export controls, The Decoder reported.
This development highlights potential challenges for technology regulation and data security, an issue of growing interest for Japanese markets as Japan navigates its own AI policy landscape and international trade considerations.