OpenAI Warns of China Copying AI, Eyes Stronger U.S. Partnership
OpenAI is concerned that Chinese companies are copying its AI technology, which could lead to stronger security and closer ties with the U.S. DeepSeek’s chatbot shakes Wall Street with low-cost, high-power AI innovation.
OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, announced on Wednesday that Chinese companies are actively attempting to replicate its advanced AI models, prompting increased security measures and closer cooperation with US authorities.
OpenAI’s statement came after Chinese startup DeepSeek caused a stir on Wall Street this week with its powerful new chatbot, developed at a fraction of the cost of its US competitors. DeepSeek’s performance has sparked accusations that it has reverse-engineered the capabilities of cutting-edge US technology, such as the AI that powers ChatGPT.
OpenAI claimed that competitors were employing a process known as distillation, in which developers creating smaller models learn from larger ones by mimicking their behavior and decision-making patterns, similar to a student learning from a teacher.
“We know China based companies and others are constantly trying to distill the models of leading US AI companies,” an OpenAI spokesperson told AFP, highlighting US-China tensions over AI intellectual property protection.
We will “believe as we go forward that it is critically important to work closely with the US government to best protect the most capable models from efforts by adversaries and competitors to take US technology.”
David Sacks, the new Trump administration’s AI chief, told Fox News that there was “substantial evidence that what DeepSeek did here was distilled knowledge out of OpenAI’s models.” OpenAI said the process violated its terms of service and that it would work to detect and prevent future attempts.
OpenAI Faces IP Violations
The company, led by Sam Altman, is facing multiple accusations of intellectual property violations, primarily for using copyrighted materials to train its generative artificial intelligence models.
“Distillation will violate most terms of service, yet it’s ironic or even hypocritical that big tech is calling it out,” said Lutz Finger, senior visiting lecturer at Cornell University. Copyrighted material was instrumental in training ChatGPT, which is now assisting DeepSeek. “Knowledge is free and difficult to protect,” Finger concluded.
