China has warned that it will take "all necessary measures" if the US decides to impose sanctions on Chinese companies operating in the AI sector, accusing them of improperly using American models for training their systems. This was reported by Bloomberg.
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce criticized the Trump administration's accusations that Chinese companies had appropriated US intellectual property through model knowledge extraction, calling on Washington to stop its "slanderous campaign" and threats of sanctions.
"These actions lack factual basis and legal justification and are practically manifestations of double standards, representing a typical example of dominance in the AI sector," the ministry's statement said. "China will take all necessary measures to resolutely defend its legitimate rights and interests against any actions that cause significant harm to China's interests."
This response further escalates the dispute over knowledge extraction. It concerns a method of training a large language model using the results of another model's work. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessenet stated last week that the US would closely examine Chinese models for signs of potential intellectual property theft. He reiterated accusations against OpenAI and Anthropic PBC that their Chinese competitors had used leading American models to develop competing systems at significantly lower costs.
The ministry noted that some Chinese models were released almost simultaneously with their American counterparts and demonstrated leading capabilities in areas such as frontend programming. The statement characterized knowledge extraction as a widely used method across various fields. At the same time, it was claimed that many American AI companies had themselves subjected Chinese models to knowledge extraction without naming the companies or providing evidence.
The ministry urged the US to strengthen dialogue and communication around AI, improve technology governance, and jointly support its development.
