US agencies accuse Chinese AI firms of industrial-scale distillation of American AI models
The FBI, NSA, and CISA issued a joint advisory accusing Chinese AI companies including DeepSeek, Alibaba, Moonshot AI, MiniMax, StepFun, and Z.AI of conducting industrial-scale distillation campaigns against US frontier AI models since at least late 2024. China's Commerce Ministry and Foreign Affairs Ministry rejected the allegations, calling distillation a common industry practice and accusing the US of seeking an AI monopoly. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that sanctions and Entity List designations would be considered against offending Chinese companies.
- Reutersfirst
- Washington Times+2.1 h
- CNN+2.2 h
- Defense One+7.4 h
- Wall Street Journal+13.1 h
- South China Morning Post+13.4 h
- Al Jazeera+24.7 h
- Bloomberg+29.7 h
- Breitbart+50.4 h
Broad agreement on what happened
Outlets across the spectrum land in roughly the same place: the shared language is highlighted.
“US claims Chinese AI firms are carrying out 'industrial-scale' theft of trade secrets - CNN”CNN CNN LEFT
“Chinese government linked to massive AI tech theft from American tech companies”WT Washington Times RIGHT
“US firm used AI to hijack WeChat account, spurring call for cyber cooperation with China” · Al Jazeera, Defense One, South China Morning Post, Reuters