{"id":18554,"date":"2026-07-26T02:26:59","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T02:26:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/?p=18554"},"modified":"2026-07-26T02:26:59","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T02:26:59","slug":"op-ed-the-us-narrative-about-chinese-ai-distillation-theft-ignores-too-many-hard-realities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/?p=18554","title":{"rendered":"Op-Ed: The US narrative about Chinese AI distillation theft ignores too many hard realities"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <div style=\"display: grid; grid-template-columns: 300px 160px; gap: 2px; width: 460px; background: #eee; padding: 2px;\">\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u6574\u884c\u5bbd\u5e7f\u544a -->\r\n  <div style=\"grid-column: 1\/-1; width: 460px; height: 250px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876674\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n  <div style=\"grid-column: 1\/-1; width: 460px; height: 90px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876676\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u5de6\u4fa7\u7ad6\u6392 -->\r\n  <div style=\"height: 250px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876672\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n  <div style=\"height: 500px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876680\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u53f3\u4fa7\u6469\u5929\u697c\uff08\u548c\u5de6\u4fa7\u5b8c\u5168\u5bf9\u9f50\uff09 -->\r\n  <div style=\"grid-row: 3\/5; height: 750px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876678\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n  \r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e6\" data-zoneid=\"5876682\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n<\/div><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-right:0;padding-left:0\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AI distillation theft is <strong>becoming an almost monotonous daily theme in the news<\/strong>. The responses never vary and rarely offer any insight into what actually happened or what happens next.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s a cut-and-paste and often melodramatic PR exercise, most of the time:<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Media coverage is somewhere between saturation and footnote levels.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>The US invariably blames China.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>China inevitably denies responsibility.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>No resolution of any kind is achieved.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>No problems are solved, and new problems are supposedly discovered.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>The world moves on to the next iterations of the same situations.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are supposedly no third parties involved and no stakeholders trying to get advantages for themselves. The only possible bad actors are too easily identifiable. There are miraculously no active AI learning initiatives distilling furiously from every possible global source 24\/7. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There is above all a rather smug, overriding, and dangerously unrealistic image of unquestioned US AI supremacy. The top-down model of US AI policy is looking far too much like the Vietnam War, with grandiose statements, very high casualties, and no attention to the realities on the ground.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSo what\u2019s new?\u201d, you may well ask.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The hugely expanded global AI frame of reference is what\u2019s new. Two years ago, this would have been an almost totally credible narrative. Not now. The AI universe has changed, and the roles of the players have changed with it.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-the-realities-of-ai-vs-the-narrative\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">The realities of AI vs the narrative<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AI technology never stops evolving. It\u2019s driven by its own nature. <strong>Distillation is a natural and necessary default capability<\/strong> of most AI models. Distillation is always happening. You might as well complain about birds flying. The technological status quo in AI realities is therefore always changing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are other considerations:<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The US approach to AI governance barely exists on any level in reality. There is no functional leadership of any sort.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">OpenAI\u2019s optimistic but worth reading <strong>\u201cdemocratic vision for AI\u201d<\/strong> is maybe the only positive mindset or proposed initiative in this wasteland of inactivity. There are no indicators of the sort of solid cohesion required for effective governance. <strong>OpenAI and Anthropic are actually pro-regulation<\/strong>, but is there any real movement?<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The resulting dawdling and ever-growing US policy desert is creating future gaps and traps for AI development. Who knows what they\u2019re supposed to comply with, or when?<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Moonshot OpenAI debacle simply highlighted gaping weaknesses in everything <strong>from access to restricted Nvidia chips<\/strong> to <strong>drastically improved uptake of Moonshot\u2019s Kimi K3 services.<\/strong> The White House has effectively been trumpeting its own failures.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-the-ai-cold-war-is-already-obsolete-and-the-us-may-already-have-lost\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">The AI Cold War is already obsolete, and the US may already have lost<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Convenient as it may be for politicians to turn AI into just another vague and totally counterproductive Cold War, China has long since moved on from the folksy stage to hard business initiatives.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The US is trailing along behind and damaging its own credibility badly in the process. The unilateral, <strong>useless ongoing trade war declared by the Trump administration<\/strong> isn\u2019t helping.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This isn\u2019t a Cold War, and if it was one, it\u2019s already over. It\u2019s now the shoddy equivalent of MIT vs the picture of a complacent hot dog stand with questionable hygiene credentials, in terms of technological geopolitics.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Let\u2019s try being blunt:<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>China is physically deploying ready-to-go, fully supported AI and automated systems in the real world. They\u2019re doing this in just about every market much faster than the US. There\u2019s not even really a contest for market reach.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>China has much to gain from building a very strong global market position, which it seems to be achieving with very little real resistance from the US.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>China has been very effectively pushing the cost buttons compared to the US AI market positions with every new AI model since DeepSeek.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>China also has much to lose if it doesn\u2019t exploit these market opportunities. They\u2019re rather obviously not hanging around waiting to cash in.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Is there any form of arcane, opaque, tortuous logic whereby you can assume they won\u2019t do just that?<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-distillation-is-the-least-of-america-s-problems-with-china-and-ai\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Distillation is the least of America\u2019s problems with China and AI.<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Historically, we\u2019re at the sharp stick level setup for the AI Age. Fire hasn\u2019t been invented yet, but it\u2019s coming. \u00a0<strong>AGI or even a near-equivalent level of AGI technology<\/strong> will take AI far beyond these issues.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Adorable as America\u2019s habit of shooting itself in the foot with every noun in the English language may be, it\u2019s time to get functional. The current state of affairs is near-total failure, with a few chips between.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">America\u2019s market image has been severely damaged by this lack of leadership and lack of direction. The world doesn\u2019t care about Big Tech\u2019s ridiculously verbose high opinion of itself, boom-and-bust IPOs, or brattish billionaire tantrums.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The world needs to learn how to live with emerging AI realities. \u00a0A clear direction is what\u2019s needed. Can America deliver?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- \u603b\u5bb9\u5668\uff1a\u6700\u5927\u5bbd908px Grid\u7d27\u51d1\u5e03\u5c40 -->\r\n<div style=\"display: grid; grid-template-columns: 728px 160px; gap:2px; width:908px; background:#eee; padding:2px;\">\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u901a\u680f\u9876\u90e8\uff1a\u6700\u5927\u6a2a\u5e45 908x258 \u8de8\u6574\u884c -->\r\n  <div style=\"grid-column:1\/-1; height:258px; background:#ff6b6b; display:grid; place-items:center;\">\r\n    <!-- JuicyAds v3.0 -->\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async src=\"https:\/\/poweredby.jads.co\/js\/jads.js\"><\/script>\r\n<ins id=\"1114307\" data-width=\"908\" data-height=\"258\"><\/ins>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async>(adsbyjuicy = window.adsbyjuicy || []).push({'adzone':1114307});<\/script>\r\n<!--JuicyAds END-->\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u7b2c\u4e8c\u901a\u680f\uff1a728\u00d790 \u901a\u680f -->\r\n  <div style=\"grid-column:1\/-1; height:90px; background:#4ecdc4; display:grid; place-items:center;\">\r\n    <!-- JuicyAds v3.0 -->\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async src=\"https:\/\/poweredby.jads.co\/js\/jads.js\"><\/script>\r\n<ins id=\"1114300\" data-width=\"728\" data-height=\"90\"><\/ins>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async>(adsbyjuicy = window.adsbyjuicy || []).push({'adzone':1114300});<\/script>\r\n<!--JuicyAds END-->\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u5de6\u4fa7\u4e3b\u680f\uff1a\u591a\u5e7f\u544a\u5806\u53e0 -->\r\n  <div style=\"display:grid; gap:2px;\">\r\n    <div style=\"height:60px; background:#45b7d1; display:grid; place-items:center;\">\r\n\t<!-- JuicyAds v3.0 -->\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async src=\"https:\/\/poweredby.jads.co\/js\/jads.js\"><\/script>\r\n<ins id=\"1114308\" data-width=\"468\" data-height=\"60\"><\/ins>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async>(adsbyjuicy = window.adsbyjuicy || []).push({'adzone':1114308});<\/script>\r\n<!--JuicyAds END-->\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n    <div style=\"height:250px; background:#ffe066; display:grid; place-items:center;\">\r\n\t<!-- JuicyAds v3.0 -->\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async src=\"https:\/\/poweredby.jads.co\/js\/jads.js\"><\/script>\r\n<ins id=\"1114299\" data-width=\"300\" data-height=\"250\"><\/ins>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async>(adsbyjuicy = window.adsbyjuicy || []).push({'adzone':1114299});<\/script>\r\n<!--JuicyAds END-->\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n    <div style=\"height:250px; background:#ff9ecd; display:grid; place-items:center;\">\r\n\t<!-- JuicyAds v3.0 -->\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async src=\"https:\/\/poweredby.jads.co\/js\/jads.js\"><\/script>\r\n<ins id=\"1114305\" data-width=\"250\" data-height=\"250\"><\/ins>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async>(adsbyjuicy = window.adsbyjuicy || []).push({'adzone':1114305});<\/script>\r\n<!--JuicyAds END-->\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n    <div style=\"height:139px; background:#c792ea; display:grid; place-items:center;\">\r\n\t<!-- JuicyAds v3.0 -->\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async src=\"https:\/\/poweredby.jads.co\/js\/jads.js\"><\/script>\r\n<ins id=\"1114302\" data-width=\"133\" data-height=\"139\"><\/ins>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async>(adsbyjuicy = window.adsbyjuicy || []).push({'adzone':1114302});<\/script>\r\n<!--JuicyAds END-->\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n    <div style=\"height:125px; background:#91e7ac; display:grid; place-items:center;\">\r\n\t\r\n<!-- JuicyAds v3.0 -->\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async src=\"https:\/\/poweredby.jads.co\/js\/jads.js\"><\/script>\r\n<ins id=\"1114303\" data-width=\"125\" data-height=\"125\"><\/ins>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async>(adsbyjuicy = window.adsbyjuicy || []).push({'adzone':1114303});<\/script>\r\n<!--JuicyAds END-->\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u53f3\u4fa7\u7ad6\u680f\uff1a160\u00d7600 \u6574\u5217\u9ad8\u5e7f\u544a -->\r\n  <div style=\"grid-row:3\/8; height:600px;  display:grid; place-items:center;\">\r\n    <!-- JuicyAds v3.0 -->\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async src=\"https:\/\/poweredby.jads.co\/js\/jads.js\"><\/script>\r\n<ins id=\"1114301\" data-width=\"160\" data-height=\"600\"><\/ins>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async>(adsbyjuicy = window.adsbyjuicy || []).push({'adzone':1114301});<\/script>\r\n<!--JuicyAds END-->\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n<\/div><br \/>\n<br \/> Op-Ed: The US narrative about Chinese AI distillation theft ignores too many hard realities<br \/>\n<br \/>#OpEd #narrative #Chinese #distillation #theft #ignores #hard #realities<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AI distillation theft is becoming an almost monotonous daily theme in the news. The responses&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18494,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[3432,7733,4224,14700,5907,7300,12098,7371],"class_list":["post-18554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories","tag-chinese","tag-distillation","tag-hard","tag-ignores","tag-narrative","tag-oped","tag-realities","tag-theft"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/a8df035dfb4b742f499927099b34953d90669b24-1.jpg",768,525,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/a8df035dfb4b742f499927099b34953d90669b24-1-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/a8df035dfb4b742f499927099b34953d90669b24-1-300x205.jpg",300,205,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/a8df035dfb4b742f499927099b34953d90669b24-1.jpg",640,438,false],"large":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/a8df035dfb4b742f499927099b34953d90669b24-1.jpg",640,438,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/a8df035dfb4b742f499927099b34953d90669b24-1.jpg",768,525,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/a8df035dfb4b742f499927099b34953d90669b24-1.jpg",768,525,false],"covernews-slider-full":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/a8df035dfb4b742f499927099b34953d90669b24-1.jpg",768,525,false],"covernews-slider-center":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/a8df035dfb4b742f499927099b34953d90669b24-1-768x500.jpg",768,500,true],"covernews-featured":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/a8df035dfb4b742f499927099b34953d90669b24-1.jpg",768,525,false],"covernews-medium":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/a8df035dfb4b742f499927099b34953d90669b24-1-540x340.jpg",540,340,true],"covernews-medium-square":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/a8df035dfb4b742f499927099b34953d90669b24-1-400x250.jpg",400,250,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/?author=1"},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/?cat=7\" rel=\"category\">Stories<\/a>","tag_info":"Stories","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18554\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}