{"slug": "chinas-military-tapped-u-s-ai-to-build-battlefield-systems-report", "title": "China’s military tapped U.S. AI to build battlefield systems: report", "summary": "Chinese military researchers have repeatedly used outputs from U.S. AI models developed by OpenAI and Anthropic to train domestic systems, according to a Reuters review of studies compiled by the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation. The technique, known as 'model distillation,' has been applied to develop AI for battlefield operations, surveillance, cyber capabilities, and content monitoring, raising national security concerns in Washington. Sunny Cheung, a fellow at the Jamestown Foundation, said the research points to a coordinated effort to narrow China's AI gap with the United States.", "body_md": "# China’s military tapped U.S. AI to build battlefield systems: report\n\nChinese military researchers have used outputs from leading U.S. artificial intelligence models developed by OpenAI and Anthropic to train domestic AI systems\n\n- Bookmark\n- CommentsGo to comments\n\nChinese [military researchers](/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-bans-chinese-humanoid-robots-b3023617.html) are increasingly using American artificial intelligence models to help train their own AI systems, according to a review of research papers that is raising fresh [concerns](/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-china-election-cia-memo-investigation-b3023353.html) in Washington over national security and the U.S.-China technology race.\n\nA Reuters review of studies compiled by the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation found researchers linked to [China's military](/news/donald-trump-washington-western-hemisphere-xi-jinping-congress-b3022659.html) and defense sector have repeatedly used a technique known as \"model distillation\" to build smaller, more efficient AI systems by learning from powerful Western models.\n\nThe practice itself is widely used across the AI industry. But U.S. officials have accused some Chinese organizations of using it to extract capabilities from American AI systems, potentially weakening U.S. export controls and intellectual property protections. China has rejected those allegations, accusing Washington of trying to maintain AI dominance.\n\nThe research reviewed by Reuters suggests military-linked institutions are using the technology to develop AI for battlefield operations, surveillance, cyber capabilities and content monitoring.\n\nSunny Cheung, a fellow at the Jamestown Foundation who analyzed more than 60 papers, said the research points to a coordinated effort to narrow China's AI gap with the United States.\n\n\"Teaching a model the right answer is one thing, but teaching it the reasoning behind the answer is much harder,\" Cheung said. \"These papers show Chinese military-linked researchers are trying to transfer that expensive, proprietary reasoning from Western models into smaller systems they can control and deploy locally.\"\n\nReuters said it independently verified the research and identified dozens of additional military-linked examples.\n\nOne paper from PLA Unit 96941, a Chinese military intelligence and cyber warfare unit, described using OpenAI's GPT-3.5 to analyze military software code before transferring that knowledge into a domestically developed AI model capable of operating entirely within Chinese military networks.\n\nOther research described using Anthropic's Claude AI to generate training data for social media monitoring and content moderation systems.\n\nAnthropic said it does not provide commercial access to Claude in China or to companies controlled by Beijing and has systems designed to detect violations of its policies. The company also warned that distilled models could lose important safety protections while retaining valuable capabilities.\n\nAdditional studies reviewed by Reuters described Chinese military researchers using distillation to develop AI models capable of running on drones, autonomous ships and other battlefield systems with limited computing power.\n\nOne paper from the PLA's National University of Defense Technology outlined using the technique to shrink an image-recognition model so it could process live video aboard unmanned aerial vehicles without relying on external communications.\n\nResearchers at China's Academy of Military Sciences also described deploying distilled AI models during simulated maritime operations involving drones, warships and unmanned submarines.\n\nThe push comes as China seeks to compete with the United States in advanced AI despite U.S. restrictions on exports of high-end chips. Chinese officials have invested heavily in \"lightweight\" AI models designed to operate on devices with limited computing resources, including drones, satellites and military hardware.\n\nExperts said model distillation can help create faster and cheaper AI systems but cannot fully replicate the capabilities of the most advanced frontier models.\n\n\"It is best understood as transferring selected capabilities into a cheaper, locally controlled system, not achieving independence from frontier AI,\" said Trevor Koverko, co-founder of AI data company Sapien.\n\nThe White House, Pentagon, OpenAI, China's Foreign Ministry and the People's Liberation Army did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment.\n\n## Join our commenting forum\n\nJoin thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies\n\n[Comments](#comments-area)", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/chinas-military-tapped-u-s-ai-to-build-battlefield-systems-report", "canonical_source": "https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/china-military-ai-distillation-western-models-b3025234.html", "published_at": "2026-07-31 09:47:18+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-07-31 10:07:18.535415+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-policy", "ai-safety"], "entities": ["Reuters", "Jamestown Foundation", "OpenAI", "Anthropic", "PLA Unit 96941", "National University of Defense Technology", "Academy of Military Sciences", "Sunny Cheung"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/chinas-military-tapped-u-s-ai-to-build-battlefield-systems-report", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/chinas-military-tapped-u-s-ai-to-build-battlefield-systems-report.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/chinas-military-tapped-u-s-ai-to-build-battlefield-systems-report.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/chinas-military-tapped-u-s-ai-to-build-battlefield-systems-report.jsonld"}}