The White House has accused Chinese-linked entities of attempting to steal U.S. artificial intelligence technology on a large scale, warning that steps will be taken to protect American innovation.
In a statement on Thursday, the U.S. science and technology chief, Michael Kratsios, said there is evidence that foreign actors mainly from China are running coordinated operations to extract advanced AI capabilities developed in the United States.
According to him, the alleged activities involve the use of thousands of proxy networks and so-called “jailbreaking” techniques to access and replicate proprietary systems.
He added that the U.S. government would take action to curb what it described as a growing threat to its technological edge.
The claims come amid rising concerns in the tech industry over the use of “distillation” a process where smaller, cheaper AI models are built by learning from more advanced systems.
Earlier this year, AI company Anthropic accused three Chinese firms DeepSeek, Moonshot AI and MiniMax of attempting to extract capabilities from its Claude chatbot without authorization.
Similarly, OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, told U.S. lawmakers that one of the firms, DeepSeek, may have used such methods to benefit from technologies developed by American companies.
Although Kratsios did not name specific organisations in his latest remarks, he described the alleged operations as “industrial-scale” efforts to systematically access U.S. innovations.
The development comes ahead of a planned meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on May 14, where technology and trade issues are expected to feature prominently.
