U.S. to Apply IP Enforcement Tools to Chinese AI Models After Chip Restrictions; Open Source Treated as Legitimate

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday that the United States would examine open-source AI models from China for signs of intellectual property theft and could sanction Chinese companies if such theft is confirmed. Bessent made the comments on Fox Business. ,” he said.

“This administration supports open source models, but what we do not support is IP theft. ” Bloomberg first reported the remarks. Axios reported Monday that the Trump administration is considering a ban on Chinese open-source models.

In April the White House said it would work closely with AI firms to combat theft. Bessent’s statements add to existing U.S. measures that already restrict China’s access to advanced chips. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella recently criticized the assumption that distillation of larger models amounts to theft.

“While the great innovation that comes from model providers having fair use rights to train models on public data is needed, I find it ironic that the status quo is to then turn around and impose restrictive terms on distillation,” Nadella said. Hugging Face CEO Clem Delangue said distillation plays only a small role in model development. ,” Delangue said on a recent TechCrunch Equity podcast.