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US accuses Chinese AI firms of ‘industrial-scale’ theft of AI technology

By Thomson Reuters Sep 8, 2026 | 12:49 PM

WASHINGTON, Sept 8 (Reuters) – U.S. cyber and ​law ‌enforcement officials on Tuesday accused Chinese AI ‌companies ​of “aggressive, ⁠industrial-scale distillation ⁠activities,” according to a statement from three ​U.S. security agencies.

Distillation ⁠is ⁠the process ​of training ​smaller AI models ‌using output from larger, more ⁠expensive ones as part of an ⁠effort ‌to lower ⁠the ​costs ‌of training a ​new ⁠AI tool.

(Reporting by Courtney Rozen; Editing by Chris ​Reese)