The White House is divided over how to respond to the rapid rise of China's AI models, according to multiple people familiar with internal discussions. The debate centers on whether to impose stricter controls on Chinese AI, which is now rivaling the most advanced US models, or to adopt a more lenient approach. The situation has intensified after China’s Moonshot AI lab released its Kimi K3 model, which is said to match the capabilities of top US models from Anthropic and OpenAI.
Senior White House officials have discussed potential measures to prevent Chinese labs from developing their models by training them on US models, a practice known as distillation. This comes after Anthropic accused Alibaba of carrying out the 'largest known distillation attack' against it. However, no formal executive action is expected, and the White House has not yet issued an official statement on the matter. The administration is also considering sanctions for covert distillation, which Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described as 'IP theft.'
The Commerce Department has become a key player in the internal debate, as it oversees export controls through the Bureau of Industry and Security. While the White House has imposed export controls on Anthropic, officials are also exploring ways to incentivize US labs to develop open weight models to counter China’s growing influence. The recent rise of open weight models from China has raised concerns over their potential to be used for hacking government systems and critical infrastructure, complicating the administration’s approach to AI policy.
Source: wired
