Microsoft investigating if DeepSeek-linked group obtained OpenAI data in 'unauthorized manner': Report

synopsis

Microsoft and OpenAI are probing if data output from the ChatGPT maker's technology was obtained in an unauthorized manner by a group linked to Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) startup DeepSeek, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday.

Microsoft's security researchers observed that, in the fall, individuals they believed to be connected to DeepSeek exfiltrating a large amount of data using the OpenAI's application programming interface (API), the report said.

The controversy erupted as DeepSeek, a Chinese AI startup, rattled the tech industry by overtaking OpenAI’s ChatGPT on Apple’s App Store in the United States.

Amid the escalating tensions, David Sacks, the White House’s AI and crypto czar, hinted at a potential act of intellectual property theft. Speaking to Fox News earlier on Tuesday, Sacks suggested that DeepSeek may have extracted valuable knowledge from OpenAI’s models.

"There's substantial evidence that what DeepSeek did here is they distilled the knowledge out of OpenAI's models," Sacks stated, fueling further concerns over China’s AI advancements and their impact on US technological dominance.

When approached for a response to the Bloomberg report, an OpenAI spokesperson echoed Sacks’ concerns, emphasizing that China-based firms, among others, are persistently attempting to replicate cutting-edge AI models developed in the United States.

"We engage in counter-measures to protect our IP, including a careful process for which frontier capabilities to include in released models, and believe as we go forward that it is critically important that we are working closely with the US government to best protect the most capable models from efforts by adversaries and competitors to take US technology," the OpenAI representative stated.

Despite the growing scrutiny, Microsoft declined to comment on the matter, while DeepSeek remained unreachable for a response.