US government website used Chinese model the FBI called "malicious"
The Federal Register website briefly used an open source Chinese AI search tool.
On Wednesday, US government officials removed a Chinese AI search tool from the Federal Register website, according to Reuters. The move occurred after social media users noticed what appeared to be a contradiction: the National Archives was utilizing one of Alibaba's Qwen AI models, even as the FBI accused such models of illegally copying American frontier models.
Earlier this month, the FBI had named Alibaba among six prominent Chinese firms accused of engaging in "industrial-scale distillation," a practice that the agency contends facilitates China's biggest competitor in reducing costs and accelerating AI development. The Federal Register website, operated by an independent agency responsible for enhancing public access to federal government documents, had reportedly begun offering visitors the option to use a Qwen model for searching public comments on proposed regulations.
However, the agency has not commented on the removal of the Chinese model, nor has the White House or the FBI responded to inquiries from Ars Technica.
Written by urgent.news from Ars Technica's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
This story
This is one outlet's version. Read the fullest account.
