Trump administration vows crackdown on China’s ‘exploiting’ of AI models made in the U.S.

Michael Kratsios, the president’s technology adviser, accused Chinese companies of stealing leading AI models made in the U.S.

FILE – White House director of Science and Technology Policy Michael Kratsios speaks during a meeting of the White House Task Force on Artificial Intelligence Education in the East Room of the White House, Sept. 4, 2025, in Washington. [Photo: Alex Brandon, File/AP Photo]

The Trump administration is vowing to crack down on foreign tech companies’ exploitation of U.S. artificial intelligence models, singling out China at a time that country is narrowing the gap with the U.S. in the AI race.In a Thursday memo, Michael Kratsios, the president’s chief science and technology adviser, accused foreign entities “principally based in China” of engaging in deliberate, industrial-scale campaigns to “distill,” or extract capabilities from, leading AI systems made in the U.S. and “exploiting American expertise and innovation.”The administration, Kratsios wrote, will work with American AI companies to identify such activities, build defenses and find ways to punish offenders.The memo arrives at a time when China is challenging U.S. dominance in artificial intelligence, an area where the White House says the U.S. must prevail to set global........

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