彭博（Bloomberg）于 2026 年 2 月 13 日上午 6:30（GMT+8）报导称，OpenAI 于周四向美国众议院中国问题特别委员会（US House Select Committee on China）发送备忘录，指称中国竞争对手 DeepSeek 正使用日益精密的「蒸馏」（distillation）方法，从美国领先 AI 模型中提取输出并用于训练其下一代 R1 聊天机器人，其中包括旨在规避 OpenAI 滥用防御的「新的、混淆的方法」。OpenAI 表示在 R1 于 2025 年发布后不久便开始提出疑虑，并与 Microsoft 展开调查，以确认 DeepSeek 是否以未经授权的方式取得资料，这与日期为 2025 年 1 月 29 日的先前报导所述一致。OpenAI 将此问题描述为其观察到的持续性平台活动，并称尽管对违反服务条款者进行打击，蒸馏仍在持续且变得更加精密。
在该备忘录中，OpenAI 表示内部审查显示，与 DeepSeek 员工相关的帐号试图透过使用第三方路由器来掩盖来源，以绕过防护栏（guardrails），并称 DeepSeek 员工开发程式码以「以程式化方式」存取美国 AI 模型并大量收集输出，同时还有旨在规避控制措施的未经授权转售商网络。美国官员与立法者也放大了这一主张：众议员 John Moolenaar 称其为「偷、抄、杀」剧本的一部分，而白宫 AI 沙皇 David Sacks 则表示在 2025 年已有「大量证据」显示 DeepSeek 从 OpenAI 的模型中蒸馏知识，同时在较旧晶片上「榨出更多效能」。报导还提到，DeepSeek 自 R1 以来仅发布小幅升级，而彭博此前报导称其希望在 2025 年末推出一款基于代理（agent-based）的模型。
OpenAI 认为蒸馏会威胁美国 AI 的商业模式，因为包括 DeepSeek 在内的许多中国模型不收取月订阅费，而 OpenAI 与 Anthropic 等美国公司已在基础设施上投入数十亿美元并对高阶服务收费，可能削弱美国相对中国的优势。它也强调安全风险：据称 DeepSeek 会审查敏感议题（例如台湾与天安门广场），且 OpenAI 主张当能力被复制时，防护措施往往会退化，从而在生物与化学等领域增加滥用风险。另方面，晶片取得仍是关键的数字杠杆：彭博报导称在 2025 年末，Donald Trump 总统采取行动放松晶片限制，允许 Nvidia 向中国出售 H200 处理器，并称其大约落后于领先的 Blackwell 版本约 18 个月；委员会取得的纪录并于 2026 年 1 月 29 日报导称，Nvidia 提供技术支援协助 DeepSeek 共同设计并改进 R1，且 DeepSeek-V3 基座模型的完整训练需要 2.8 million H800 GPU hours，使用的是在 2023 年仅获准对中国销售数个月、但于 2023 年稍后一项规则又叫停销售的处理器。
On February 13, 2026 at 6:30 AM (GMT+8), Bloomberg reported that OpenAI sent a memo on Thursday to the US House Select Committee on China alleging that Chinese rival DeepSeek is using increasingly sophisticated “distillation” methods to extract outputs from leading US AI models and use them to train its next-generation R1 chatbot, including “new, obfuscated methods” intended to evade OpenAI’s misuse defenses. OpenAI said it started raising concerns shortly after R1’s release in 2025 and opened a probe with Microsoft into whether DeepSeek obtained data in an unauthorized way, as earlier reporting dated January 29, 2025 described. OpenAI framed the issue as ongoing platform activity it has observed, with distillation described as persisting and becoming more sophisticated despite crackdowns on terms-of-service violators.
In the memo, OpenAI said an internal review suggested accounts associated with DeepSeek employees tried to bypass guardrails by using third-party routers to mask their source, and that DeepSeek employees developed code to access US AI models and harvest outputs “programmatically,” alongside networks of unauthorized resellers intended to evade controls. US officials and lawmakers amplified the claim: Representative John Moolenaar called it part of a “steal, copy, and kill” playbook, and White House AI czar David Sacks said in 2025 there was “substantial evidence” DeepSeek distilled knowledge from OpenAI’s models while “squeezing more juice” from older chips. The story also notes DeepSeek has released only minor upgrades since R1, while Bloomberg previously reported it hoped to ship an agent-based model in late 2025.
OpenAI argued distillation threatens US AI business models because many Chinese models, including DeepSeek’s, do not charge a monthly subscription fee, while US firms like OpenAI and Anthropic have invested billions of dollars in infrastructure and charge for premium services, potentially eroding a US advantage over China. It also emphasized security risks: DeepSeek allegedly censored sensitive topics (for example, Taiwan and Tiananmen Square), and OpenAI claimed safeguards often degrade when capabilities are copied, increasing misuse risks in areas like biology and chemistry. Separately, chip access remains a key numeric lever: Bloomberg reported that at the end of 2025 President Donald Trump moved to ease chip restraints to allow Nvidia to sell H200 processors to China, which were described as about 18 months behind leading Blackwell versions; records obtained by the committee and reported on January 29, 2026 said Nvidia provided technical support to help DeepSeek co-design and improve R1, and that the DeepSeek-V3 base model required 2.8 million H800 GPU hours for full training, using processors that were permitted for sale to China for only a few months in 2023 before a rule later in 2023 halted sales.