US agencies accuse Alibaba, DeepSeek of industrial-scale AI model distillation
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US security agencies accused Chinese AI firms including Alibaba and DeepSeek of systematically extracting proprietary knowledge from American models. The NSA, FBI, and CISA said the companies used distillation at an industrial scale since at least 2024. The agencies urged US developers to take immediate protective action.
Key Facts
- The NSA, FBI, and CISA issued a joint statement on Tuesday accusing DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, Alibaba, MiniMax, StepFun, and Z.ai of industrial-scale distillation of US AI models.
- The agencies said the Chinese firms have used distillation since at least 2024 to train their own systems.
- The alert details which US systems were distilled by each Chinese company and for what purposes, including improving math problem-solving and code review.
- The agencies stated the companies are likely siphoning information from American models with knowledge of the Chinese government.
- US AI developers were advised to take immediate action, including altering responses to suspected malicious distillation attempts.
The Accusation
The NSA, FBI, and CISA issued a joint statement on Tuesday accusing six Chinese AI companies of systematically extracting proprietary knowledge from US models. The named firms are DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., MiniMax, StepFun, and Z.ai Co. The agencies said the companies used distillation at an industrial scale to train their own systems. The practice has been used since at least 2024, according to the joint statement.
Method and Scale
Distillation is a technique that can be legitimately used by an AI developer to teach a more power-efficient version of its own model. The agencies said the Chinese firms used distillation without approval, making it an improper shortcut. The alert details which US systems were distilled by each Chinese company and for what reasons, including improving math problem-solving and code review. The agencies stated the companies are likely siphoning information from American models with knowledge of the Chinese government. They accused the firms of intentionally skirting US companies' use restrictions to access their systems.
Response and Recommendations
A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy did not respond to a request for comment. Representatives for DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, Alibaba, MiniMax, StepFun, and Z.ai did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The agencies advised US AI developers to take immediate action, including altering responses to suspected malicious distillation attempts. They also recommended sharing intelligence on distillation campaigns with one another.
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