White House accuses China of ‘industrial-scale’ AI technology theft weeks ahead of Trump-Xi summitThe White House has accused China of AI technology theft in a scathing memo, weeks before Donald Trump is set to meet with Xi Jinping.Robert McGreevy – Fox News2 min readApril 24, 2026 - 1:52PMThe White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has accused China of “industrial-scale” AI technology theft in a scathing memorandum, just weeks before US President Donald Trump is set to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, China.“The U.S. has evidence that foreign entities, primarily in China, are running industrial-scale distillation campaigns to steal American AI. We will be taking action to protect American innovation,” OSTP Director Michael Kratsios wrote in an X post on Thursday, US time. Mr Kratsios accused China and other foreign entities of using tens of thousands of proxies in a co-ordinated effort to siphon American AI innovation, Fox Newsreports.“Foreign entities who build on such fragile foundations should have little confidence in the integrity and reliability of the models they produce,” Mr Kratsios wrote.White House director of Science and Technology Policy Michael Kratsios said foreign entities, including China, are running industrial-scale distillation campaigns to steal US AI. Picture: AP/Alex BrandonModels built on such innovation theft cannot replicate the efficacy and innovation of the technologies they’re ripping off, an OTSP memo stated. They can, however, simulate select benchmarks at a fraction of the cost.“These distillation campaigns also allow those actors to deliberately strip security protocols from the resulting models and undo mechanisms that ensure those AI models are ideologically neutral and truth-seeking,” the memo said.The accusation precedes the historic Trump-Xi summit by just three weeks. Originally scheduled for the end of March, the Beijing talks were postponed to May 14.The two are expected to discuss the ongoing war in Iran, with Mr Trump telling reporters on Air Force One that China’s reliance on oil from the Strait of Hormuz means it should be open to joining a coalition to put pressure on Iran to keep the strategic waterway open.Technology was already on the docket before the OTSP announcement, and China will likely seek Washington to loosen technology controls on semiconductors and AI.The accusation precedes the historic Trump-Xi summit by just three weeks. Picture: Andrew Harnik/GettyThe OTSP announcement also comes one day after the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing, “Stealth Stealing: China’s Ongoing Theft of U.S. Innovation.” During the review, Senator Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, presented evidence showing Chinese technology theft cost the US economy between $400-600 billion yearly.China grabbed headlines in 2025 with its AI “Sputnik moment,” touting a cost-efficient breakthrough with its DeepSeek AI model.But Anthropic, the company responsible for the increasingly popular Claude model, accused China of stealing from Anthropic to build DeepSeek.Anthropic claimed China used a mass-proxy distillation process to siphon key data. The proxy strategy is the same one the OTSP outlined in the memo on Wednesday.“Foreign labs that distil American models can then feed these unprotected capabilities into military, intelligence and surveillance systems, enabling authoritarian governments to deploy frontier AI for offensive cyber operations, disinformation campaigns, and mass surveillance,” Anthropic said at the time.Anthropic has accused China of stealing to build DeepSeek. Picture: Sebastien Bozon/AFPAfter a public split between Anthropic and Washington that saw the Pentagon label it as a supply chain risk, Anthropic’s leaders were back at the White House on Friday, reportedly to discuss cybersecurity.“Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei today met with senior administration officials for a productive discussion on how Anthropic and the U.S. government can work together on key shared priorities such as cybersecurity, America’s lead in the AI race and AI safety,” an Anthropic spokesperson previously told Fox News Digital. “The meeting reflected Anthropic’s ongoing commitment to engaging with the U.S. government on the development of responsible AI. We are grateful for their time and are looking forward to continuing these discussions.”More CoverageMusk snubs summons amid X probeBrielle BurnsMeta sacks thousands in $189 billion moveBrielle Burns and AFPFox News Digital contacted the White House, OTSP, Anthropic and the Chinese Embassy to the U.S. for further comment but did not immediately receive a response.Fox News Digital’s Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.This article originally appeared in Fox Business and has been reproduced with permission.Read related topics:ChinaDonald TrumpMore related storiesNSW / ACT Courts & LawWhy BRS was planning to move overseasBen Roberts-Smith was exploring a possible move overseas before his arrested but in court documents his partner said they always planned to meet war crimes allegations head on.Read moreTVNew smart TVs might help you put your phone awaySamsung’s new AI televisions promise to automatically answer your burning questions about actors and locations while you watch, eliminating phone interruptions.Read moreMilitaryAustralia’s big investment after Ian warAustralian soldiers will gain access to $30m worth of revolutionary new tech as the wars in Iran and Ukraine continue to up-end conflict strategies.Read more