The maker of ChatGPT, OpenAI, has complained that rivals, including those in China, are using its work to make rapid advances in developing their own artificial intelligence (AI) tools.
The status of OpenAI – and other US firms – as the world leaders in AI has been dramatically undermined this week by the sudden emergence of DeepSeek, a Chinese app that can emulate the performance of ChatGPT, apparently at a fraction of the cost.
Bloomberg has reported that Microsoft is investigating whether data belonging to OpenAI – which it is a major investor in – has been used in an unauthorised way.
The BBC has contacted Microsoft and DeepSeek for comment.
OpenAI’s concerns have been echoed by the recently appointed White House “AI and crypto czar”, David Sacks.
Speaking on Fox News, he suggested that DeepSeek may have used the models developed by OpenAI to get better, a process called knowledge distillation.
“There’s substantial evidence that what DeepSeek did here is they distilled the knowledge out of OpenAI’s models,” Mr Sacks said.
“I think one of the things you’re going to see over the next few months is our leading AI companies taking steps to try and prevent distillation… That would definitely slow down some of these copycat models.”
In a statement, OpenAI said Chinese and other companies were “constantly trying to distil the models of leading US AI companies”.
“As we go forward…it is critically important that we are working closely with the U.S. government to best protect the most capable models,” it added.
The accusation of disrespecting intellectual property rights is however far from a new one in tech – and has been frequently levelled at major US AI firms.
US officials are also considering the national security implications of DeepSeek’s emergence, according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
“I spoke with [the National Security Council] this morning, they are looking into what [the national security implications] may be,” said Ms Leavitt, who also restated US President Donald Trump’s remarks a day earlier that DeepSeek should be a wake-up call for the US tech industry.
The announcement comes after the US navy reportedly banned its members from using DeepSeek’s apps due to “potential security and ethical concerns”.
According to CNBC, the US navy has sent an email to its staff warning them not to use the DeepSeek app due to “potential security and ethical concerns associated with the model’s origin and usage”.
The Navy did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BBC News.
Data safety experts have warned users to be careful with the tool, given it collects large amounts of personal data and stores it in servers in China.
Cyber attacks
Meanwhile, DeepSeek says it has been the target of cyber attacks. On Monday it said it would temporarily limit registrations because of “large-scale malicious attacks” on its software.
A banner showing on the company’s website says registration may be busy as a result of the attacks.
Yuyuan Tantian, a social media channel under China’s state broadcaster CCTV, claims the firm has faced “several” cyber attacks in recent weeks, which have increased in “intensity”.
America’s AI industry has been shaken by DeepSeek’s apparent breakthrough, especially because of the prevailing view that the US was far ahead in the race.
A slew of trade restrictions banning China’s access to high-end chips was believed to have cemented this.
Although China has boosted investment in advanced tech to diversify its economy, DeepSeek is not one of the big Chinese firms that have been developing AI models to rival US-made ChatGPT.
Experts say the US still has an advantage – it is home to some of the biggest chip companies – and that it’s unclear yet exactly how DeepSeek built its model and how far it can go.
