As the world debates the risks of AI, China closes the technology gap
with the US
[September 16, 2026] By
CHAN HO-HIM and E. EDUARDO CASTILLO
HONG KONG (AP) — As the rapid development of artificial intelligence
triggers a renewed debate about its risks, the United States and China
keep racing to develop increasingly powerful models.
The U.S. has outpaced China and other countries in AI model
capabilities, research, citations and other areas. China has been
rapidly catching up as an AI superpower even as U.S.-led restrictions
have blocked China from accessing some of the most advanced
technologies, including the cutting-edge chips and the machines to make
them.
Experts and recent reports, like one by the Stanford Institute for
Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, said China has emerged as an AI
counterweight to the U.S. and this year appears to be erasing the U.S.
lead.
“The gap between U.S. and Chinese models is narrow and fragile,” said
Samm Sacks, a senior fellow at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced
International Studies’ Institute for America, China, and the Future of
Global Affairs.
But both the U.S. and China have also expressed growing concerns over
AI. The current debate takes on greater importance ahead of Chinese
President Xi Jinping’s expected visit to Washington this month to meet
U.S. President Donald Trump, and as experts say the future of AI will
depend significantly on what China and the U.S. do and don’t do.
Here’s a quick look at some of the most important Chinese AI models and
the concerns in both Washington and Beijing:
Moonshot AI leads strong competition from Chinese companies
Beijing-based startup Moonshot AI made a splash with the release of Kimi
K3, taking Silicon Valley by surprise with capabilities close to U.S.
rivals. It was ranked No. 3 globally in model intelligence in July,
shortly after its release, behind Anthropic’s Claude Fable 5 and
OpenAI’s GPT-5.6 Sol, according to AI benchmarking platform Artificial
Analysis. But Kimi K3 now ranks ninth, behind new frontier models from
Anthropic, OpenAI, Meta and SpaceXAI, indicating China's AI lead can be
fluid.
AI startup darling DeepSeek was the first to upend global stock markets
by proving Chinese AI models are capable of challenging the U.S. lead.
The company's R1 model, released early 2025, was more cost-effective
than similar U.S. models. In April, DeepSeek previewed its powerful V4
model, saying it has big improvements in knowledge, reasoning and
“agentic” capabilities, referring to the ability to plan and execute
complex steps autonomously, under limited human guidance.
The powerful GLM-5.2 from startup Z.ai that rolled out in June raised
Silicon Valley eyebrows with comparisons to the most advanced Anthropic
and OpenAI models. Z.ai then launched GLM-5.3 in August with improved
coding and agentic capabilities that pushed it up the global AI model
rankings.
In July, China’s Alibaba previewed its Qwen3.8-Max model, which the tech
giant said was its most powerful model in the series, challenging
Anthropic’s Claude and OpenAI’s GPT.
China worries about AI risks to security and governance
In China, the head of its state security ministry has warned artificial
intelligence poses a range of potential threats to the country, from
political and ideological security to cyberattacks, data leaks and even
challenges to governance.
In an article published Sunday, Chen Yixin said the technology could
threaten China's political, institutional, and ideological security if
used by “hostile forces and individuals with ulterior motives.”
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A worker stands at the booth for Chinese AI Startup Moonshot's Kimi
K3 during the World AI Conference in Shanghai, China on July 17,
2026. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)
 Some individuals might use
AI-generated deepfake audio and video to create “political rumors”
on a massive scale, he wrote.
Chen specifically mentioned the capabilities of Anthropic's Claude
and OpenAI's GPT as examples of how AI could be used to more easily
identify and “weaponize” cybersecurity vulnerabilities. He warned
certain nations and groups can now “execute complex hacking tasks.”
Top Chinese leaders have said China should accelerate AI development
and pursue technological self-reliance. But they also noted the need
to control the risks and establish a global framework for AI
governance.
US accuses China of extracting American model capabilities
In the U.S., Trump and his administration have repeatedly
highlighted the importance for the U.S. to maintain its AI edge over
China. “Whoever wins AI, wins,” Trump told reporters on Sunday.
The U.S. has accused China’s AI developers of engaging in what it
has called “industrial-scale distillation,” in which AI models are
trained to copy or imitate the capabilities of more powerful ones.
Last week, Anthropic also accused Chinese startups DeepSeek and
Moonshot of routing a number of their user requests to its Claude AI
models.
In the most comprehensive report by the government to date, the FBI,
the National Security Agency and the Cybersecurity and
Infrastructure Security Agency said Sept. 8 that Chinese AI
developers extracted capabilities from some of the most advanced AI
models in the U.S. in “aggressive, malicious, and targeted
distillation activities.”
Beijing has rejected the claims and said distillation is commonly
used by many AI companies. It asked the United States to refrain
from making “unfounded accusations” and accused the U.S. of pursuing
a “monopoly of the AI industry.”
The U.S. allegations “should be read as a contested claim” but not
as the explanation for China's catch-up, said Professor Will Cong of
Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
The United States has put in a lot of energy controlling the inputs
into frontier AI, especially chips, said Lizzi C. Lee, a fellow at
the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis. But
now “it may also have to think about the outputs of frontier AI as a
form of technology transfer,” she said.
“The U.S. labs spend enormous amounts of compute pushing out the
frontier. But Chinese developers can learn from those systems,” said
Lee. “And Chinese companies then (can) release very capable
open-weight models that spread globally.”
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Castillo reported from Beijing.
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