Building on Borrowed Ground: The New AI Feudalism

Anthropic's rapid growth to $380 billion valuation has created a critical vulnerability: millions of companies now depend entirely on Claude for core business operations, yet have zero protection against sudden account termination. The company banned 1.45 million accounts in H2 2025 with only a 3.3% appeal success rate, offering no due process or meaningful recourse—forcing businesses to accept a feudal arrangement where the platform owns the means of production and users are merely tenants at will. This structural imbalance signals an urgent governance crisis as AI adoption outpaces regulatory frameworks designed to protect business continuity.