China says AI progress driven by ‘self-reliance’ amid Moonshot AI copying Anthropic allegations

China said Thursday that its progress in artificial intelligence (AI) was driven by "self-reliance" after a White House official accused Chinese AI startup Moonshot AI of distilling Anthropic’s Fable model to develop its Kimi K3 model.

"The development of AI in China comes from greater self-reliance and strength in science and technology, and is fueled by China’s vision of extensive consultation and joint contribution for shared benefit," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said at a news conference in Beijing.

Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said Wednesday that Moonshot AI had developed a sophisticated internal platform to conduct large-scale model distillation while rapidly switching between different access methods to avoid detection.

Distillation is a common technique through which a less powerful AI system learns from responses generated by a more advanced model. Although the method has legitimate uses, US officials argue that conducting it covertly and on an industrial scale can amount to intellectual property theft.

"All countries should take a people-centered approach and develop AI for the positive and for good to ensure the open and inclusive development of AI for good and for all so as to better contribute to social progress and the common welfare of the international community," Lin said.

He also expressed China’s opposition to "politicizing and instrumentalizing" trade and technology issues.

"Such actions will only stifle global AI advances and serve no one’s interests," Lin added.