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White House accuses Moonshot AI of covert distillation of Anthropic tech
US officials say the alleged large-scale distillation could trigger sanctions and export restrictions, amid a tight window between Anthropic model availability and Kimi K3 launch.
Cointelegraph reports that White House officials accused Moonshot AI of using covert methods to distill Anthropic technology into its Kimi K3 model, which launched last week.
According to a post on X by White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios, the company allegedly built an internal platform to distill US models at industrial scale, using approaches intended to avoid detection. Kratsios said legitimate distillation can help innovation, but large-scale, covert efforts to steal proprietary US technology undermine American research and are unacceptable.
The report says Kimi K3’s performance has heightened Washington’s concerns that American AI models may be covertly used to accelerate China’s AI progress. Some researchers also questioned the claims, citing timing, including that Anthropic’s Fable 5 was re-released on July 1 after being taken offline due to US export controls, while Kimi K3 launched on July 16.
Cointelegraph adds that US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that large-scale distillation attacks could lead to sanctions and other restrictions, while emphasizing support for open-source AI but saying it does not amount to permission to take American IP.