US Prepares Crackdown on China's Industrial-Scale AI Model Theft

The US is preparing sweeping crackdowns on Chinese actors conducting AI model theft at industrial scale, signaling a dramatic escalation in the technology rivalry between Washington and Beijing. This campaign threatens to accelerate China's AI capabilities while exposing fundamental vulnerabilities in API-based business models, potentially reshaping how companies protect proprietary AI. Congress is expected to designate model extraction as industrial espionage, marking AI IP protection as a defining geopolitical and economic battleground.