Reuters reported today (July 27): "China stated that if the U.S. imposes sanctions on Chinese AI companies on the grounds that they are replicating American AI models through distillation technology, China will take countermeasures. China dismissed the allegations as baseless, labeling them as 'AI hegemonism'; it emphasized that model distillation is a common industry practice and called for cooperation in the field of artificial intelligence rather than imposing sanctions. The dispute was triggered earlier when the U.S. accused Chinese firms of leveraging models from OpenAI and Anthropic to accelerate their own AI product development."
The core of this conflict is not merely about technological right or wrong—model distillation is indeed a widely used research and development method across the global AI industry, with American companies themselves routinely employing this technique. Now, using it selectively against Chinese firms clearly reflects double standards. By brandishing sanctions under the pretext of 'copying,' the U.S. is essentially driven by fear of China's rapid advancement in AI and aims to maintain its monopoly in the field. China’s response this time is firm, drawing a clear red line: should the U.S. dare to impose sanctions, China will inevitably retaliate. AI technology should be a shared achievement for humanity. Instead of pursuing win-win cooperation, the U.S. persistently enforces technological blockades and AI hegemony, which will not only hinder global innovation in artificial intelligence but also make this contest increasingly intense going forward.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1871879431127307/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.