US cyber and ​law enforcement officials accused Chinese AI companies on ‌Tuesday of maliciously copying technology from sophisticated American-made AI models through a technique known as distillation, according to a ​statement from three US security agencies.

Distillation is the ​process of training smaller AI models using ⁠output from larger, more expensive ones as part ​of an effort to lower the cost of training ​a new AI tool. The US officials accused China’s DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, Alibaba, MiniMax and StepFun of using variants of ​American-made AI models to train their AI products, ​according to a statement from the US National Security Agency, the ‌Cybersecurity ⁠and Infrastructure Security Agency, and the FBI. The companies did so “likely with Chinese government awareness,” according to the agencies.

“China-based AI companies are engaging in aggressive, ​malicious and targeted ​distillation activities ⁠at an industrial scale,” the officials said.

US officials made the allegations as the ​Trump administration prepares for Chinese President Xi ​Jinping’s ⁠visit to the US in late September. The US and China are also gearing up to discuss ⁠AI safety ​risks during a dialogue planned ​for mid-September, Reuters previously reported.