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China Suspected of Stealing AI Models; White House Vows to Track and Ensure U.S. Dominance

From Liberty Times · () Chinese

Translated from Chinese, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • The White House stated it is closely monitoring reports of China potentially stealing AI models from U.S. companies.
  • This issue is a high priority for the Trump administration, which aims to ensure U.S. leadership in AI competition.
  • Concerns have been raised by U.S. tech leaders and officials about China's rapid advancement in AI, particularly with open-weight models.

The White House is actively tracking allegations that China may be distilling AI models from U.S. companies, emphasizing that maintaining American leadership in artificial intelligence is a top national security priority. This follows reports that China's open-weight AI models are rapidly advancing, potentially closing the gap with leading U.S. firms like OpenAI and Anthropic.

This is something the Trump administration is highly focused on, and we are tracking it closely. It is about ensuring that the United States maintains its leading position in AI competition.

— Karoline LeavittThe White House spokesperson addressed the concerns about China's AI development and potential technology theft.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent indicated that the Trump administration would investigate any instances of overseas models being derived from American innovations. He stated that if foreign models are found to have stolen U.S. corporate work, Washington possesses the capability to impose sanctions. Bessent noted the presence of watermarks from U.S. large language models on many Chinese models, calling it "unacceptable."

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt confirmed that the administration is closely monitoring the situation, underscoring its importance for national security and ensuring continued U.S. dominance in the AI sector. The administration is reportedly considering measures in response to potential theft of U.S. technology by Chinese AI models. Discussions regarding these potential actions are ongoing.

If we find that overseas models are distilling American intellectual property, we have the ability to sanction them for that theft.

— Scott BessentU.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent spoke about potential U.S. responses to Chinese AI advancements.

Concerns were amplified by a letter from Anthropic to the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, accusing Chinese tech company Alibaba of launching what it described as the "largest known distillation attack" on Anthropic's models. Distillation is an AI training method where a smaller model is built using the outputs of a more powerful existing model. Bessent plans to represent the U.S. in upcoming AI talks with China scheduled for September.

This is unacceptable. We will be investigating this in the coming days or weeks.

— Scott BessentBessent commented on the discovery of U.S. large language model watermarks on Chinese AI models.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Liberty Times in Chinese. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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