China rejects US claims of AI distillation from OpenAI, Google and Anthropic

Washington has accused several Chinese AI firms of extracting capabilities from leading US models without authorisation. Beijing has rejected the charge and framed the row as another flashpoint in the wider AI rivalry.Image used for representational purposes onlyChina on Wednesday rejected US allegations that Chinese artificial intelligence developers are carrying out large-scale efforts to pull capabilities from leading American AI systems without authorisation. The response came a day after three US agencies issued a joint cybersecurity advisory naming several Chinese companies and saying the activity had been taking place since at least late 2024.The advisory said Chinese developers had extracted, or “distilled”, capabilities from US frontier AI models including Anthropic’s Claude, OpenAI’s GPT, Google’s Gemini and SpaceXAI’s Grok. It named DeepSeek, Alibaba, Moonshot AI and Z.ai, and said the activities were carried out “likely with Chinese government awareness”.Responding in Beijing, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged the US to “refrain from making unfounded accusations or smears” against China. Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a regular press conference, “China’s AI development is the result of high-level technological self-reliance and strength.” She added, “We maintain that all parties should strengthen cooperation to promote AI development that is open, inclusive, universally beneficial and oriented toward the common good.”The US advisory said Chinese AI companies “route distillation requests through multiple pathways to gain unauthorised access, consequently violating US AI companies’ terms of use.” It added, “China-based AI companies are engaging in aggressive, malicious, and targeted distillation activities at an industrial scale that extract restricted proprietary functionalities and capabilities of US frontier AI models.” The agencies also said Chinese companies cut costs for these campaigns “through bulk procurement of the US AI companies’ premium subscriptions shared across teams of developers”. The latest advisory gives more detail than earlier US accusations against Chinese AI developers. Anthropic and OpenAI have also made similar allegations, while Beijing has said US claims are groundless. AI governance is expected to be part of planned talks later this month between US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.Chinese AI models, including Moonshot’s Kimi K3, have been making inroads in the US and elsewhere, with some seeing them as more efficient and affordable alternatives to American frontier models, even as US-led restrictions have blocked China from some of the world’s most advanced technologies. On Tuesday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said at an event at Southern Methodist University’s Cox School of Business in Dallas, Texas, that China can “never get ahead” of the US in AI. “The Chinese distil our models, and they can never get ahead of us,” Bessent said. DeepSeek, Alibaba, Moonshot AI and Z.ai did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The dispute has added to tensions over AI between the two countries, with Washington accusing Chinese firms of unauthorised extraction of model capabilities and Beijing rejecting the charge while calling for cooperation on AI development.With PTI Inputs- EndsPublished By: India Today Web Desk Published On: Sep 9, 2026 16:12 IST