Other firms, including Alibaba, MiniMax, StepFun, and Z.AI, seemed focused on copying particular models from Anthropic and OpenAI, agencies said.

Ars reached out to all AI firms whose models were allegedly targeted by Chinese firms, but no company immediately responded. So, it’s hard to say if the recommended mitigations are practical.

China says US claims are “groundless”

China is not happy that the US is continuing to accuse its top AI firms of IP theft, though.

On Wednesday, a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mao Ning, said that US agencies should be working on strengthening AI cooperation with China, “rather than making groundless accusations,” NBC News reported. She further defended China’s success in quickly expanding its AI capabilities as the “result of high-level scientific and technological self-reliance.”

Previously, Liu Chang, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy, had accused the Trump administration of operating a “smear” campaign rooted in prejudice against China, NBC News reported.

“Relevant individuals in the United States should respect the facts, discard prejudice, and stop smearing and discrediting China’s achievements in the development of its artificial intelligence industry,” Liu said.

Around that time, the People’s Daily, which is an official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, reported that another Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson had noted that “many US AI companies have used Chinese models for distillation in the course of research, development, and training.” Additionally, many US startups want access to Chinese AI models, which are more affordable and capable enough for many tasks.

That spokesperson suggested that the US should listen to its business community or else “China will take all necessary measures in response to any action that causes material harm to its interests and will resolutely safeguard its legitimate and lawful rights and interests.”

For China, beating back US attacks on its leading AI models comes at a time when its Ministry of Industry and Information Technology this week released a plan to “sharply expand the country’s intelligent computing capacity over the next five years,” the South China Morning Post reported. It also comes just ahead of a meeting between Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping on September 24.