US data brokers are selling half a billion dollars in RL training environments to Chinese AI labs

A report from ChinaTalk indicates that American data brokers, including Mercor, Surge AI, and AfterQuery, have sold approximately $500 million in AI training environments to Chinese laboratories. These transactions reportedly involve the same reinforcement learning platforms previously used by companies like OpenAI and Anthropic. The involvement of at least nine U.S.-based firms suggests that domestic technology developed for leading AI developers is being transferred to Chinese entities, potentially bypassing export controls intended to restrict the flow of advanced artificial intelligence resources.