White House official Michael Kratsios accused Chinese startup Moonshot AI of large-scale, covert distillation of Anthropic's Fable model to create Kimi K3, potentially using restricted Nvidia chips in Thailand. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested sanctions for such "theft," while industry figures debate the claims.
The Kimi K3, a new 2.8 trillion-parameter open-weight AI model from a Chinese developer, has drawn attention for its performance, prompting Washington's concern that Chinese developers may be circumventing US restrictions on AI models and advanced semiconductors.
The Trump administration announced a $5 billion initiative to use AI to solve scientific problems, including chronic diseases and drug discovery. Fifteen federal agencies will participate, with scientists gaining access to Department of Energy supercomputers. Microsoft will donate $40 million in AI computing credits.
The administration of Donald Trump has threatened action to shield the US artificial intelligence industry from being “distilled” by Chinese rivals, in a move analysts say could weed out weaker players in China’s AI sector within a year. In a memo released on Thursday, Michael Kratsios, the science and technology adviser to the US president, warned that “surreptitious, unauthorised distillation campaigns” were enabling foreign entities – mainly in China – to release models that appear to match...
A memo from Michael Kratsios says firms, mainly in China, are wrongfully distilling US AI models.
