OpenAI says Chinese rivals using its work for their AI apps

OpenAI has raised concerns that Chinese startups are leveraging its technology to develop competing AI products through a process known as "distillation."This technique involves using outputs from larger, more advanced models to enhance the performance of smaller models tailored for specific tasks.OpenAI, in collaboration with Microsoft, is investigating these activities, particularly following the launch of DeepSeek's chatbot, which claimed to have been trained with significantly less cost and hardware compared to OpenAI and Google models. This development has notably impacted the market, leading to a $1 trillion loss in the value of AI-linked U.S. tech stocks.

DeepSeek's recent release of a high-ranking AI model has surprised the market and impacted companies like Nvidia.OpenAI claims that DeepSeek used a distillation technique to improve performance on smaller models utilizing outputs from larger models like those of OpenAI, which goes against OpenAI’s terms of service that prohibit copying for developing competitive models.

In response, OpenAI has expressed its intent to collaborate with the U.S. government to safeguard its technology from adversaries, specifically highlighting ongoing efforts by Chinese firms to leverage U.S. artificial intelligence advancements.The company emphasized the importance of implementing countermeasures to protect intellectual property and ensure that advanced AI capabilities in released models are carefully controlled.

The U.S. government is also considering measures to restrict China's access to advanced AI software, such as the core models behind applications like ChatGPT.The Commerce Department is contemplating a new regulatory push to limit the export of proprietary AI models, aiming to prevent adversaries from utilizing these technologies for potentially harmful purposes.

These developments underscore the escalating global competition in artificial intelligence and the critical importance of protecting intellectual property and technological advancements in this rapidly evolving field.