China says US accusations of AI theft are 'groundless'

FILE PHOTO: Chinese President Xi Jinping waves as he arrives at the opening ceremony for the World AI Conference in Shanghai, China, July 17, 2026. Ng Han Guan/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

10 Sep 2026 04:22AM

(Updated: 10 Sep 2026 04:32AM)

BEIJING: China said on Wednesday (Sep 9) that US accusations of Chinese labs stealing the capabilities of American models were "groundless", as the two countries race for tech supremacy.The US cyber defense agency released an advisory on Tuesday accusing top Chinese AI labs including DeepSeek and Moonshot AI of systematically stealing the capabilities "through industrial-scale knowledge distillation campaigns".It came ahead of an expected meeting this month between President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the White House, where AI could be an important discussion topic.China hit back on Wednesday, calling the accusations "groundless".

"The US approach is a typical case of using the crackdown on distillation as a pretext to achieve industrial monopoly," the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement.The US accusations are a "case of double standards", it added.