Six Chinese AI Firms Accused of Copying US AI Models

<p>The United States has identified six Chinese AI firms accused of engaging in large-scale efforts to replicate US frontier AI model capabilities, potentially saving billions in development costs for China.</p><p>In a joint release on September 9, 2026, the National Security Agency (NSA), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) alleged that DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, Alibaba, MiniMax, StepFun, and Z.AI have been targeting US models since at least late 2024. The agencies stated that these firms likely operated with awareness from the Chinese government while extracting capabilities from US models, which include variants of Claude, GPT, Gemini, and Grok.</p><p>The agencies noted that China-based AI companies conducting large-scale distillation of US AI models experience significantly shorter development timelines and lower costs associated with training advanced models.</p>