Did China's Kimi K3 Copy A Top US AI Model? White House Levels Fresh Allegations Against Moonshot

Published 23 July 2026 · tech

Did China's Kimi K3 Copy A Top US AI Model? White House Levels Fresh Allegations Against Moonshot Published By, Last Updated: July 23, 2026, 09:46

Did China's Kimi K3 Copy A Top US AI Model? White House Levels Fresh Allegations Against Moonshot Published By, Last Updated: July 23, 2026, 09:46 IST The allegations come after Moonshot AI unveiled Kimi K3, a powerful new AI model that has drawn global attention for its coding, reasoning and problem-solving abilities. Moonshot allegedly built an internal platform capable of accessing and extracting information from American AI systems. The Trump administration accused Chinese artificial intelligence startup Moonshot AI of secretly extracting capabilities from leading US AI models and obtaining restricted Nvidia chips abroad. The allegations come days after Moonshot AI unveiled Kimi K3, a powerful new AI model that has drawn global attention for its coding, reasoning and problem-solving abilities. White House science and technology adviser Michael Kratsios claimed that Moonshot used large-scale “distillation" techniques to extract knowledge from Anthropic’s advanced Claude Fable 5 model. Distillation is a common AI training method in which a smaller or newer model learns from the outputs of a more capable system.

However, Michael Kratsios argued that Moonshot’s actions went beyond legitimate AI development, saying, “Large-scale, covert industrial distillation aimed at stealing proprietary US technology and undermining American research is unacceptable." What Is US Alleging? According to Michael Kratsios, Moonshot allegedly built an internal platform capable of accessing and extracting information from American AI systems while avoiding detection. He claimed the company targeted Anthropic’s models using numerous accounts and different methods of access. Anthropic had previously accused Moonshot, DeepSeek and MiniMax of collectively using around 24,000 fraudulent accounts to generate more than 16 million interactions with Claude AI models. The US government has not publicly released evidence showing that outputs from Claude Fable 5 were directly used to build Kimi K3. Nvidia Chip Allegations Add Another Layer Michael Kratsios also alleged that Moonshot obtained Nvidia’s advanced Blackwell GB300 chips and deployed them in Thailand to train AI models. The claim is significant because US export controls prohibit the sale of Nvidia’s most advanced AI processors to China.

Washington has increasingly worried that Chinese companies may be accessing restricted chips through third countries. The US Bureau of Industry and Security confirmed that Moonshot’s reported access to the chips is now under investigation. China Pushes Back China has strongly rejected the accusations. A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington called the claims “entirely unfounded" and said China remains committed to protecting intellectual property rights. The spokesperson also accused US officials of attempting to discredit China’s advances in artificial intelligence. News18 Newsletter Handpicked stories, in your inbox A newsletter with the best of our journalism submit Key Questions Answered Will the US provide evidence of Moonshot AI's alleged theft? The US has accused China's Moonshot AI of stealing US technology and illegally obtaining Nvidia chips. How will these allegations impact US-China tech relations? The White House has accused China's Moonshot AI of stealing US technology and illegally obtaining Nvidia chips.