U.S. Accuses Chinese AI Firms of Illicit Model Copying

U.S. cybersecurity and law enforcement agencies have accused several Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) companies of engaging in 'aggressive, industrial-scale distillation activities'. This process involves training smaller AI models using the responses of larger, more expensive ones, effectively allowing the Chinese firms to copy advanced U.S. AI models at a reduced cost. The U.S. National Security Agency, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and Federal Bureau of Investigation have named six Chinese companies, including DeepSeek, Yitu Technology, and Alibaba, in their joint statement. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce has denied these allegations, stating that the U.S. is politicizing and weaponizing tech trade issues.