OpenAI pledges collaboration with US government amid IP theft concerns “`

OpenAI is actively implementing protective measures against intellectual property theft in response to the rapid growth of its Chinese competitor, DeepSeek.

OpenAI is taking action to prevent the unauthorized use of its intellectual property following the debut of DeepSeek, a Chinese rival. David Sacks, the White House AI advisor, alleges that DeepSeek may have leveraged OpenAI’s data in developing its product.

DeepSeek recently launched R1, an open-source AI model, which it claims surpasses some US competitors in certain benchmarks. This launch has triggered a significant drop in US tech company valuations, totaling nearly $1 trillion.

Sacks stated in a Fox News interview that substantial evidence suggests DeepSeek used OpenAI’s models to enhance its own. He compared R1’s capabilities to OpenAI’s four-month-older 01 model.

Knowledge distillation, a technique where an AI model learns from another, may sometimes violate terms of service. Developers employ measures like data traffic limitations to mitigate this. Sacks predicts stronger safeguards will be implemented by US companies to deter similar practices.

In response to Sacks’ comments, OpenAI acknowledged that several companies are using knowledge distillation of American models and confirmed it’s actively developing countermeasures to safeguard its intellectual property. The company stated it is collaborating with the US government to protect advanced AI models from unauthorized access.

Bloomberg reports that OpenAI and Microsoft are investigating DeepSeek for potential violations. The news agency, citing anonymous sources, explains that software developers usually need licenses to utilize OpenAI’s technology.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt characterized DeepSeek’s launch as a significant warning for the American AI industry. The Trump administration has prioritized AI development, recently announcing the Stargate initiative, a plan to invest up to $500 billion in building US-based data centers to support future AI projects.