White House Issues Memo Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit, Accusing China of Stealing AI Tech on Industrial Scale
The US White House accused China of using 'distillation' techniques on an industrial scale to steal intellectual property from frontier US AI models, raising geopolitical tensions ahead of the Trump-Xi summit.
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- 📰 Published: April 24, 2026 at 05:24
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(Central News Agency Washington, 23rd, composite foreign dispatch) The US White House today in a memo accused China of stealing intellectual property from US artificial intelligence (AI) labs on an industrial scale. This memo may exacerbate bilateral tensions ahead of the US-China leaders' summit next month.
Reuters reports that Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), wrote in the memo: "Information obtained by the US government shows that foreign entities, primarily located in China, are deliberately engaging in industrial-scale operations to distill frontier US AI systems."
"Distillation" refers to using output data from larger AI models to train smaller AI models, a method that helps reduce costs when training powerful new AI tools.
This memo, first disclosed by the UK's Financial Times, has been shared on social media today.
Kratsios added: "Such organized operations systematically extract capabilities from US AI models and leverage US expertise and innovation by evading detection through tens of thousands of proxy accounts and leaking proprietary information using jailbreaking techniques."
The memo, sent to government agencies, also mentioned that the government will share information about distillation operations with US AI companies and "explore various measures to hold foreign actors accountable."
The Chinese embassy in Washington responded by rejecting these baseless accusations and stating that Beijing attaches great importance to intellectual property protection.
The memo's release comes just weeks before US President Donald Trump is scheduled to travel to Beijing to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
This memo is bound to reignite the long-standing tech war between the two superpowers, the US and China, while also raising questions about whether Washington will allow tech giant Nvidia's high-performance AI chips to be shipped to China.
In January of this year, the Trump administration conditionally approved related transactions, but Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick stated yesterday that Nvidia's powerful H200 chips have not yet been sold to Chinese companies. (Translated by: Yang Zhaoyan)
Reuters reports that Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), wrote in the memo: "Information obtained by the US government shows that foreign entities, primarily located in China, are deliberately engaging in industrial-scale operations to distill frontier US AI systems."
"Distillation" refers to using output data from larger AI models to train smaller AI models, a method that helps reduce costs when training powerful new AI tools.
This memo, first disclosed by the UK's Financial Times, has been shared on social media today.
Kratsios added: "Such organized operations systematically extract capabilities from US AI models and leverage US expertise and innovation by evading detection through tens of thousands of proxy accounts and leaking proprietary information using jailbreaking techniques."
The memo, sent to government agencies, also mentioned that the government will share information about distillation operations with US AI companies and "explore various measures to hold foreign actors accountable."
The Chinese embassy in Washington responded by rejecting these baseless accusations and stating that Beijing attaches great importance to intellectual property protection.
The memo's release comes just weeks before US President Donald Trump is scheduled to travel to Beijing to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
This memo is bound to reignite the long-standing tech war between the two superpowers, the US and China, while also raising questions about whether Washington will allow tech giant Nvidia's high-performance AI chips to be shipped to China.
In January of this year, the Trump administration conditionally approved related transactions, but Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick stated yesterday that Nvidia's powerful H200 chips have not yet been sold to Chinese companies. (Translated by: Yang Zhaoyan)