Conflict Over Open AI Models Escalates

The U.S. has stated that it possesses information indicating that Moonshot AI used the distillation of the Fable model from Anthropic in the development of its K3.

According to the American side, Moonshot AI created an internal platform for large-scale distillation of American models, which allowed switching between different access methods to avoid detection. The company also acquired servers with GB300 and gained access to such systems in Thailand, presumably for training its AI models.

At the same time, the U.S. emphasizes its support for open-source AI development. Legitimate distillation, which helps create more compact and efficient models, remains an important part of the ecosystem.

However, according to U.S. authorities, covert industrial distillation aimed at gaining access to proprietary technologies and undermining research is unacceptable.

"We support open-source in AI and the innovation it enables. But open-source is not a free hunt for American intellectual property. If companies from China are conducting covert large-scale distillation operations that cross the line into IP theft, sanctions and inclusion on the Entity List will be considered as possible measures."

In light of these statements, nearly 200 companies from Silicon Valley, including Proton and Y Combinator, urged the Trump administration not to restrict access to Chinese AI models with open weights. They believe such restrictions could seriously harm the next generation of American startups that rely on open models to develop new products.