OpenAI accuses China’s DeepSeek of stealing AI technology
OpenAI has warned lawmakers that its Chinese rival DeepSeek is using unfair and increasingly sophisticated methods to extract results from leading U.S. AI models to train the next generation of its breakthrough R1 chatbot, according to a memo reviewed by Bloomberg News.
In the memo, sent Thursday to the House Select Committee on China, OpenAI said that DeepSeek had used so-called distillation techniques as part of “ongoing efforts to free-ride on the capabilities developed by OpenAI and other U.S. frontier labs.” The company said it had detected “new, obfuscated methods” designed to evade OpenAI’s defenses against misuse of its models’ output. OpenAI began privately raising concerns about the practice shortly after the R1 model’s release last year, when it opened a probe with partner Microsoft Corp. into whether DeepSeek had obtained its data in an unauthorized manner, Bloomberg previously reported. In distillation, one AI model relies on the output of another for training purposes to develop similar capabilities. Distillation, largely tied to China and occasionally Russia, has persisted and become more sophisticated despite attempts to crack down on users who violate OpenAI’s terms of service, the company said in its memo, citing activity it has observed on its platform. Since DeepSeek and many other Chinese models don’t carry a monthly subscription cost, the prevalence of distillation could pose a business threat to American companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic PBC that have invested billions of dollars in AI infrastructure and charge a fee for their premium services. That imbalance risks eroding the U.S. advantage over China in artificial intelligence. OpenAI also highlighted other national security risks raised by DeepSeek’s gains, including that its chatbot had censored results about topics considered controversial by the Chinese government such as Taiwan and Tiananmen Square. When capabilities are copied through distillation, OpenAI said, safeguards often fall to the wayside, enabling more widespread misuse of AI models in high-risk areas such as biology and chemistry. Rep. John Moolenaar, the Republican chair of the House China committee, said in a statement Thursday that “this is part of the CCP’s playbook: steal, copy, and kill,” referring to the Chinese Communist Party. “Chinese companies will continue to distill and exploit American AI models to their advantage, just like when they ripped off OpenAI to build DeepSeek.” OpenAI declined to comment on the memo. Spokespeople for the Chinese Embassy in Washington and for DeepSeek didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. OpenAI’s memo to the House China committee suggests that its efforts to block distillation have failed to eliminate the problem. The company said an internal review suggests that accounts associated with DeepSeek employees sought to circumvent existing guardrails by accessing models through third-party routers to mask their source. DeepSeek employees have also developed code to access U.S. AI models and obtain outputs in “programmatic ways,” OpenAI said. It also points to networks of “unauthorized resellers of OpenAI’s services,” also designed to evade the company’s controls. White House AI advisor David Sacks has previously warned about Chinese distillation tactics, telling Fox News last year that DeepSeek was “squeezing more juice” out of older chips while also citing “substantial evidence that what DeepSeek did here is they distilled the knowledge out of OpenAI’s models.” OpenAI’s warning about distillation also comes as many in Washington remain concerned that access to advanced AI chips may also accelerate DeepSeek’s progress. At the end of last year, President Trump moved to ease chip restraints and allow Nvidia to sell its H200 processors, chips that are about 18 months behind the leading Blackwell versions. Since the R1 release, DeepSeek has put out only minor upgrades, even as competitors in the U.S. and China have launched a flurry of new models. Bloomberg has reported that DeepSeek is developing an agent-based model to compete with OpenAI and other rivals and had hoped to release it in late 2025. Shortly after the R1 release, U.S. authorities opened an investigation into whether DeepSeek circumvented U.S. export controls by purchasing chips via Singapore. Records recently obtained by the House China committee show that Nvidia Corp. provided technical support to help DeepSeek improve and co-design its R1 model. The DeepSeek-V3 base model required only 2.8 million H800 GPU hours for its full training. Those processors were allowed to be sold to China for a few months in 2023, until a rule later that year halted sales. “DeepSeek should have been a wake-up call about the dangers of selling advanced semiconductor chips to the CCP. Using less powerful Nvidia chips, China developed the most advanced open-source models on the planet,” Republican Rep. Michael McCaul, who formerly led a House panel with export control oversight, said last year in the wake of the H200 decision. “I shudder to think of what they might do with more advanced hardware like the H200 chips.” Ghaffary and Eastland write for Bloomberg.
Please follow us on Google to support us United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
OpenAI Researcher Quits, Warns Its Unprecedented ‘Archive of Human Candor’ Is DangerousThe warning is valid, but it's not clear anyone is hearing it.
Read more »
OpenAI Researcher Resigns over ChatGPT Advertising, Compares Sam Altman’s Strategy to FacebookSource of breaking news and analysis, insightful commentary and original reporting, curated and written specifically for the new generation of independent and conservative thinkers.
Read more »
OpenAI Introduces Premium Video Generator For White House Advisors Manipulating TrumpAmerica’s Finest News Source
Read more »
OpenAI Fires Top Safety Exec Who Opposed ChatGPT’s “Adult Mode”At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing.
Read more »
OpenAI President's Political Spending Raises Ethical Questions Amidst AI Concerns and Societal DivisionsOpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman's financial support for pro-Trump causes in 2025, despite the former president's inability to run for office, has sparked scrutiny. This action has raised questions about his motivations, the role of Big Tech in supporting political leaders, and the potential impact of AI development on society. While Brockman promotes AI as a unifying force, his political contributions are seen by some as contradicting this message, especially as public opinion on AI grows increasingly wary. The article discusses Brockman's views on the technology's potential and the need for governmental backing, while also highlighting the broader context of Big Tech's relationship with the political establishment, especially as Trump's approval ratings plummet and the rise of AI generates both excitement and apprehension.
Read more »
Former OpenAI Researcher Resigns, Citing Concerns Over ChatGPT AdsZoë Hitzig, an OpenAI researcher, has resigned in protest of the company's decision to introduce advertisements into ChatGPT, warning of potential risks related to user data and drawing parallels to Facebook's evolution.
Read more »