The NSA, FBI, and CISA have jointly accused several Chinese AI companies — including DeepSeek, Alibaba, and Moonshot AI — of conducting large-scale "distillation" of US AI models, allegedly extracting their capabilities in violation of terms of service by routing requests through proxies and third-party aggregators to avoid detection. The agencies claim distillation is central, not incidental, to these companies' AI development strategies, and that the Chinese government is likely aware of the activity. In response, the agencies recommend that US AI providers implement measures to detect and disrupt such campaigns, including subtly altering responses to suspected distillation attempts.
