OpenAI has told U.S. lawmakers that Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek has attempted to replicate its advanced AI models and those of other leading U.S. companies, according to a memo seen by Reuters.
In the memo submitted to the U.S. House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, OpenAI alleged that individuals linked to DeepSeek sought to circumvent access restrictions to obtain outputs from U.S. AI systems.
“We have observed accounts associated with DeepSeek employees developing methods to circumvent OpenAI’s access restrictions and access models through obfuscated third-party routers and other ways that mask their source,” the company said.
OpenAI added that DeepSeek employees developed code to access U.S. AI models and collect outputs for use in distillation, a technique in which a more powerful model is used to evaluate and refine a newer model’s responses, effectively transferring knowledge.
DeepSeek and its parent company, High-Flyer, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Hangzhou-based startup drew global attention last year after launching models that rivaled leading U.S. systems, raising concerns in Washington that China could narrow the AI gap despite export controls and restrictions.
OpenAI said it proactively removes users suspected of attempting to distill its models and accused some Chinese developers of cutting corners in safety practices.
Silicon Valley executives have previously praised DeepSeek’s models, including DeepSeek-V3 and DeepSeek-R1, which are available internationally.
