China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has rejected US allegations that its artificial intelligence companies are engaged in "aggressive, malicious" efforts to extract capabilities from advanced American AI models. The allegations were made by the FBI, NSA, and CISA in a joint cybersecurity advisory issued on Tuesday, which named several Chinese companies, including DeepSeek, Alibaba, and Moonshot AI. According to the advisory, these companies had sought to extract capabilities from US models such as Anthropic's Claude and OpenAI's GPT. China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning, urged the US to stop making "unfounded accusations" against China and instead promote open and inclusive AI development.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-09,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
The US has accused China of stealing its artificial intelligence (AI) secrets, including a technique called "distillation", which allows smaller AI systems to be trained using outputs from larger models. The US Treasury secretary warned that if China wins the AI race, it will have a significant impact on global competition for technological supremacy. Meanwhile, the transportation secretary expressed concern about Ford's ties to Chinese firms that he believes are detrimental to the US automotive industry. In response, China has rejected the allegations, calling them "unfounded accusations" and urging the US to strengthen cooperation instead of making unfounded smears.
The US authorities have identified six Chinese entities involved in this alleged theft, including DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, and Alibaba, which they claim are tapping into American AI products to accelerate their own development. The technique of distillation allows these smaller systems to be trained using outputs from larger models, drastically lowering the cost of building new tools.
The issue is expected to be a major topic at a planned meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping later this month, where AI governance is expected to be discussed. China's foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning has said that China's progress in AI is driven by "achieving high-level science and technological self-reliance", and urged the US to earnestly implement agreements reached by leaders of both countries.
Written for “US vs China AI Theft Accusations” on 2026-09-09,
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China on Wednesday rejected US allegations that its artificial intelligence companies are engaged in “aggressive, malicious” efforts to extract capabilities from advanced American AI models, calling on Washington to stop making what it described as unfounded accusations.
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it → reject → accusations
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged the US to “refrain from making unfounded accusations or smears” against China.
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Ministry → urge → China
It added that both China and the US are major AI powers and should strengthen cooperation.
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China → add → cooperation
According to the Associated Press, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said China’s AI development resulted from “high-level technological self-reliance and strength” and urged all sides to promote AI development that is open, inclusive and beneficial.
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that → accord → development
Mao’s comments came a day after the FBI, National Security Agency (NSA) and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued a joint cybersecurity advisory accusing Chinese AI developers of “distilling” capabilities from leading US models since at least late 2024.
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FBI → come → 2024
The advisory named Chinese companies including DeepSeek, Alibaba, Moonshot AI and Z.AI and said their activities were “likely” carried out with Chinese government awareness.
US agencies alleged that the companies had sought to extract capabilities from models including Anthropic’s Claude, OpenAI’s GPT, Google’s Gemini and xAI’s Grok.
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companies → name → Claude
The latest exchange comes ahead of planned talks later this month between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, where AI governance is expected to be among the issues discussed.
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governance → come → issues
What US agencies said about Chinese AI firms
The US agencies alleged that Chinese AI companies routed distillation requests through multiple channels to obtain unauthorised access to American AI models, potentially violating their terms of use.
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companies → say → use
They also accused the companies of using shared premium subscriptions to reduce the cost of large-scale distillation efforts.
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They → accuse → efforts
The advisory described the activity as an industrial-scale effort to extract restricted capabilities from US frontier AI systems.
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advisory → describe → systems
The allegations add to earlier claims by American AI companies and officials that Chinese developers have used distillation to accelerate the development of their own models.
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developers → add → models
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday said China would not overtake the US in AI, arguing that Chinese companies were distilling American models.
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companies → say → models
“The Chinese distill our models, and they can never get ahead of us,” Bessent said at an event at Southern Methodist University’s Cox School of Business in Dallas, Texas.
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Bessent → distill → Dallas
