Trump should crack down on Chinese AI distillation

The piece argues that since at least 2025, Chinese AI labs have relied on "distillation" to mirror the capabilities of American frontier models. It states that the campaigns have involved organized deception to acquire restricted capabilities, and it calls on the Trump administration to act against the practice.

The article cites the release of the Kimi K3 model by Moonshot in July. It reports that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that the company could be subject to restrictions. The article frames distillation as the mechanism by which Chinese labs have mirrored American frontier models, and characterises the acquisition of restricted capabilities as organized deception. It does not specify what form restrictions on Moonshot or other Chinese labs might take, or which U.S. authorities would impose them.

It places the distillation campaigns in the context of competition between American and Chinese AI developers over frontier model capability. The article states that Chinese labs have relied on distillation since at least 2025, a timeline that predates the July release of Kimi K3, presenting the practice as ongoing rather than isolated.