US Reveals Alleged Chinese AI Espionage, Using Thousands of Proxy Accounts
The rivalry between the United States (US) and China in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) has now entered an increasingly tense phase.
The White House has officially accused China of stealing AI-related intellectual property on an “industrial scale” to catch up on technological lag.
Beijing is accused of using a sophisticated espionage network to steal software source code and secret AI models from American technology companies.
This accusation is contained in an official memo written by Michael Kratsios, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
He states that foreign entities dominated by Chinese parties are deliberately and systematically dismantling the capabilities of America’s frontier AI models.
In carrying out their actions, these hackers are reported to have deployed tens of thousands of proxy accounts to evade security detection.
They specifically used jailbreaking techniques to dismantle and expose proprietary information from US tech giants.
The focus of this theft centres on “distillation” techniques, a method for training smaller AI models by siphoning output data from more advanced large-scale AI models.
This distillation practice has recently come under sharp scrutiny after the Chinese company DeepSeek was accused of plagiarising ChatGPT’s capabilities to build a high-performing product at very low cost.
The US is also exploring a series of firm retaliatory actions to hold accountable the foreign actors behind this theft campaign.
If conflict arises, such AI could be feared to be used to damage power grids, water treatment systems, and public communication lines through cyber attacks.
This situation clearly threatens diplomatic relations between the two countries, given that the memo was released just weeks before President Donald Trump is scheduled to fly to Beijing to meet President Xi Jinping.
On the other hand, the Chinese Government immediately reacted by dismissing all claims made by the White House, as compiled by KompasTekno from The Telegraph, Saturday (25/4/2026).
Spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, Liu Pengyu, asserted that the US accusations are “pure slander” that are entirely unfounded.
He assured that China always upholds intellectual property protection rights and is committed to advancing scientific progress through healthy competition.
Beijing views these industrial-scale theft accusations as nothing more than US-style political manipulation to hinder China’s rapidly advancing technology.