Trump admin. makes shock accusation of "systematic" theft of AI tech by China

The Trump administration on Tuesday accused Chinese AI firms, including DeepSeek and Moonshot AI, of systematically stealing US-developed AI technology through industrial-scale knowledge distillation, according to a new advisory from the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). The advisory claims these actions, likely with Chinese government awareness, have occurred since at least late 2024 and involve companies such as Alibaba, MiniMax, StepFun, and Z.AI targeting models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and xAI.

Trump admin. makes shock accusation of "systematic" theft of AI tech by China Washington DC - The Trump administration on Tuesday accused top Chinese https://www.tag24.com/en/topic/world/china artificial intelligence firms, including DeepSeek and Moonshot AI, of systematically stealing the capability of US-developed models. A new advisory from the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA accuses Chinese companies of widespread theft, via a process known as "distillation," of US artificial intelligence AI technology. "China-based AI companies are conducting systematic extraction of proprietary functionalities and capabilities of US AI companies' models," Tuesday's advisory https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/cybersecurity-advisories/aa26-251a read. According to CISA, China is committing theft "through industrial-scale knowledge distillation campaigns that form the core – not merely a supplement – of their AI development strategy." Distillation is where an AI model is trained to mimic the output of a larger, more capable one. The method is widely used across the industry, but Washington says Chinese firms have deployed it at scale https://www.tag24.com/en/topic/world/china/white-house-accuses-chinese-ai-startup-of-stealing-anthropic-model-3518136 to illicitly copy American systems. Chinese companies that adopt this strategy "see significantly shorter AI development timelines and reduced financial expenditures," the advisory said. It detailed how DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, Alibaba, MiniMax, StepFun, and Z.AI allegedly used millions of exchanges and requests to steal the capabilities of US models from the likes of OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and xAI. These actions, taken "likely with Chinese government awareness," have occurred since at least late 2024, the advisory claimed. Trump is under pressure to respond to the increasing success of Chinese AI models that many companies prefer to the more powerful, but pricier, US versions from Anthropic or OpenAI. Washington has made similar claims in the past https://www.tag24.com/en/topic/world/china/white-house-official-accuses-china-of-stealing-us-ai-technology-3492767 , regularly painting Chinese advancements in AI as being largely based on technological progress first made by US tech firms. The CISA advisory comes only weeks ahead of a meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House https://www.tag24.com/en/topic/world/china/trump-gets-giddy-about-visit-from-chinas-xi-boasts-about-ai-superiority-3529452 in September, where AI is likely to be an important discussion topic. Cover photo: AFP/Finn Gomez/Getty Images