China's People's Daily: AI is not a 'monopoly of great powers'

The U.S. and China are identified as the primary drivers of frontier AI development and global adoption. The two nations have been in disagreement over AI policies and industry practices, issues expected to be prominent in upcoming bilateral talks. Earlier this year, the White House accused China of large-scale theft of intellectual property from U.S. AI labs.

The People's Daily, the official newspaper of the ruling Communist Party, stated that China encourages open-source and open practices, providing companies, including those from the U.S., access to open-source models. The commentary criticized U.S. logic, stating that when American enterprises use "distillation"—the process of training smaller AI models using the output of larger ones—it is considered an "industry standard practice," but when Chinese enterprises apply it, it is deemed an "attack." The paper characterized this as "naked double standards."

According to the commentary, the U.S. seeks to establish a monopoly in the AI industry by framing an industry standard practice as a national security issue. Despite these criticisms, China expressed its willingness to engage in "constructive and professional" discussions with the U.S. to advance the open, inclusive, universal, and beneficial development of AI.