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Mia Nurmamat

China has rejected US allegations of “aggressive, malicious” AI distillation as groundless, warning that it would retaliate if Washington used the claims as a pretext to contain the country’s rapidly advancing artificial intelligence sector.
China’s Ministry of Commerce said on Wednesday that US allegations of Chinese AI companies copying American models “on an industrial scale” lacked factual and legal grounds, accusing Washington of using the allegations to assert technological dominance, monopolise computing power and suppress competition.
The response came after the US government on Tuesday accused six Chinese companies – including DeepSeek and Alibaba Group Holding – of conducting “aggressive, malicious and targeted” distillation of advanced American models on an industrial scale, allegedly with the Chinese government’s awareness.
Model distillation is a technique in which a smaller AI model is trained on responses generated by a more powerful system, reducing the computing power, time and expense needed to develop a competitive product.
The commerce ministry described distillation as a neutral and widely used industry practice employed by companies around the world, including American firms. It accused Washington of using national security agencies to interfere in normal commercial activity and protect US dominance in computing power and data.

“If the US takes action to contain or suppress Chinese AI companies in the name of combating distillation, China will certainly take resolute measures in response,” the ministry said.
The latest confrontation comes as Washington and Beijing prepare for a planned meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, with AI safety expected to be on the agenda.
“The two leaders have agreed to establish an intergovernmental dialogue on AI,” the ministry said. “China stands ready to hold constructive, substantive talks with the US on the basis of equality and mutual benefit.”
China’s foreign ministry also urged Washington on Wednesday to stop making “groundless accusations” against Beijing, saying China’s AI advances were driven by its own technological capabilities and innovation.
“China and the US are both leading AI powers and should work more closely together,” ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a regular press briefing.
On Tuesday, the FBI, National Security Agency, and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued a joint cybersecurity advisory alleging that the six companies had used outputs from models developed by Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and Elon Musk’s xAI to train their own products more quickly and cost-effectively.
The agencies alleged that Chinese developers routed requests through multiple channels and shared bulk purchases of premium subscriptions to gain unauthorised access and circumvent the US companies’ terms of use.
On the same day, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told an event at Southern Methodist University’s Cox School of Business in Dallas that China could “never get ahead” of the US in AI. “The Chinese distil our models and they can never get ahead of us,” Bessent said.
Bessent also projected that the US would account for 80 per cent of global computing power by 2028, compared with about 15 per cent for China and 5 per cent for the rest of the world combined.
The dispute marks an escalation of earlier accusations by US officials and technology companies. Anthropic previously alleged that Chinese developers had used thousands of fraudulent accounts to generate millions of exchanges with its Claude model, while the White House said in April that Chinese entities were conducting “industrial-scale” distillation campaigns.
In June, Anthropic further alleged that operators linked to Alibaba and its Qwen AI unit used nearly 25,000 fraudulent accounts to conduct more than 28.8 million exchanges with Claude between April 22 and June 5. Alibaba did not immediately respond to the allegations at the time.
Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.


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Artificial intelligence (AI)

China rejects US claims of ‘industrial scale’ AI model distillation, warns of retaliation

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Economy

The commerce ministry says distillation is ‘neutral’ and widely used by companies around the world, including American firms


The commerce ministry says distillation is ‘neutral’ and widely used by companies around the world, including American firms.


China rejects US claims of ‘industrial scale’ AI model distillation, warns of retaliation

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The commerce ministry says distillation is ‘neutral’ and widely used by companies around the world, including American firms

The commerce ministry says distillation is ‘neutral’ and widely used by companies around the world, including American firms