Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessant stated that Open AI models from China are based on stolen intellectual property from the United States.
Posted by Bannon`s War Room, Checked
- Sources
- 4 contradict2 support
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 60%
Bannon`s War RoomJul 27, 2026
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (the claim misspells his name as 'Bessant') did publicly call Chinese open-source AI model distillation 'theft' and said investigators were finding watermarks of US models on 'many' Chinese models.
A detail. The sources confirm the gist; the verdict faults a detail such as a date, number or wording.
This claim is about the present, so it is judged as of the day it was checked.
What was said
… Recommendation, because the other side of this, folks, I remember connecting dots, this whole thing on AI that's exploded over the last 48 hours. Scott Bessant, the Secretary of Treasury, saying that these Open AI models from the Chinese are all off a stolen intellectual property from the Americans. You have this huge issue now that the export controls around the advanced chips, of which the War Room's basic, our recommendation is that no chips whatsoever go to the Chinese government, none, zero, the null set. …
Bannon`s War Room · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Contradicts. Bessent's remarks were framed as a commitment to examine Chinese open-source models and act if evidence emerged, not as a finding that all Chinese models are based on stolen IP. The 'all' in the claim overstates his statement, and his own 'many' is narrower.[2][3][4]
Contradicts. Hugging Face's Clem Delangue disputed the theft framing, saying distillation is 'a very small factor' and that US labs also do it. The Chinese embassy called Kratsios's similar accusations 'entirely unfounded.'[1][3]
Supports. Bessent said on Fox Business that 'what we do not support is IP theft' and that overseas models stealing from American companies could be sanctioned, and he called distillation 'theft' (Bloomberg, Business Insider).[2][5]
Supports. Bessent said 'We are finding watermarks of our US large language models on many Chinese models,' which supports the idea that Chinese models draw on US model outputs.[3][6]
Context. The claim says 'Open AI models'; sources describe Chinese open-source models such as Moonshot's Kimi K3, not OpenAI models. The Reuters report on Moonshot and Anthropic's Fable came from Michael Kratsios, not Bessent.[1][3]
Sources
6 sources: 1 fact-checker, 1 tier 2, 4 not rated
- 1US accuses China's Moonshot of stealing from Anthropic's Fable for latest AI modelreuters.com · fact-checker · cited for: contradicts, context
- 2Bessent Says US to Scrutinize Chinese AI Models for IP Theftbloomberg.com · tier 2 · cited for: contradicts, supports
- 3US threatens to sanction Chinese AI; Huang pushes backthenextweb.com · not rated · cited for: contradicts, supports, context
- 4US threatens sanctions against Chinese AI companies ...thedailystar.net · not rated · cited for: contradicts
- 5Treasury Secretary: the US Could Sanction Chinese AI ...businessinsider.com · not rated · cited for: supports
- 6Bessent warns China could face sanctions over AI IP theftyahoo.com · not rated · cited for: supports
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
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