Bessent warns China could face sanctions over AI IP theft

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned the U.S. could sanction China if Chinese AI models are found stealing intellectual property from American companies.
The new Chinese model Kimi K3 from Moonshot AI is being touted as rivaling top U.S. systems and is an “open-weight” release, stoking concern in Silicon Valley and Washington.
Bessent said U.S. models’ “watermarks” appear in some Chinese models and raised the idea of requiring companies to disclose if they use Chinese AI.