In a significant escalation of tech tensions, the White House has formally accused Chinese laboratories of orchestrating a massive theft of U.S. artificial intelligence models. According to officials, Chinese operatives deployed thousands of fake accounts to siphon proprietary AI technology through coordinated "distillation" campaigns.
Distillation is a technique where a smaller model is trained to mimic a larger one, often by querying it repeatedly. The accusation suggests that Chinese entities have been systematically extracting knowledge from advanced U.S. AI systems without authorization.
The allegation comes just days before a scheduled summit between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, where AI competition is expected to dominate the agenda. The move is seen as a preemptive strike to highlight Beijing's aggressive tactics in the race for AI supremacy.
Neither the Chinese government nor the accused labs have commented on the claims. However, the incident underscores the growing friction between the two superpowers over the control and security of cutting-edge technology.