Justin Sun's egg controversy escalates further

A social media post from Justin Sun in which he accused a well-known Chinese actress of backing out of a dubious cash-for-eggs agreement has stirred up reactions in China — though possibly not the kind the crypto billionaire expected.

For many English-speaking observers, the most awkward and disquieting element was Sun's apparent conduct toward and connection with Jing Tian. In China, however, the public's imagination has been captured by how extensively he has turned to artificial intelligence for both personal and corporate choices.

Sun says he approached Jing after a decades-long crush and transferred 30 million yuan to obtain her eggs.

He then alleges she demanded more money. At that point, he consulted Claude, which advised him to cancel the deal.

He is now taking legal action against her.

Would a Chinese AI have been more appropriate?

Sun is also retracting some of the assertions in his story while defending his AI usage.

During an interview with Phoenix Network, Sun indicated he uses Claude “for business decisions worth tens of millions of dollars every day” and allows it to perform “regular audits” of his companies.

Whether he acts on those decisions without additional human input or offers the audits as accurate without verification by a professional auditor is unclear.

Near the end of the interview, Sun seemed unsure if publishing the story was a mistake, appearing to blame Claude for telling him to break off contact with Jing.

Phoenix Network asked Sun whether his personal life might be less entangled with his business affairs if he had used a Chinese AI instead.

The billionaire had no answer.

While Sun appears to do everything he can to remain in the headlines, Jing has taken a different path, denying Sun's accusations twice — once through her studio and once on her personal account.

Both denials were brief and discussed resolving the matter in court.