The U.S. wants to contain China's AI. Silicon Valley keeps using it
The US is trying to contain China's AI development, but Silicon Valley companies continue to use Chinese AI models. This has led to a complicated situation where American firms are warning about Chinese companies learning from US models, while also incorporating advances from China's open-weight ecosystem. The use of model distillation, a technique where a smaller model is trained to reproduce the behavior of a larger model, has become a point of contention in the AI community.
- ▪The US is struggling to protect its AI lead as Chinese companies rapidly improve their open-weight ecosystem.
- ▪Silicon Valley companies, such as Thinking Machines, are using Chinese AI models, including Kimi K2.5, to build their own foundation models.
- ▪The use of model distillation, a technique where a smaller model is trained to reproduce the behavior of a larger model, has become a point of contention in the AI community.
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Ideas The U.S. wants to contain China’s AI. Silicon Valley keeps using it As Apple, Thinking Machines, and developers worldwide embrace Chinese AI models such as Kimi K3, U.S. policymakers are struggling to protect the AI lead. By Paul Triolo Paul Triolo is a partner and global tech policy lead at DGA-Albright Stonebridge Group in Washington, DC. 22 July 2026 Rest of World/iStock Rest of World/iStock By Paul Triolo 22 July 2026 Ideas The U.S. wants to contain China’s AI. Silicon Valley keeps using it By Paul Triolo > Ideas Arguments, opinions and essays from a global perspective.
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