A New York startup’s use of a Chinese AI model to rein in a rogue agent built with OpenAI technology is stoking fears that guardrails restricting US AI firms from doing cybersecurity work could drive customers toward their Beijing-based rivals, reports Reuters.
The affected startup, Hugging Face, said it had turned to Zhipu AI’s open-source GLM-5.2 model last week to analyze data from the hack after leading US AI models declined the task, unable to distinguish between a defender and an attacker.
Beijing has also been increasingly using open-source to position itself as an alternative to the US in the high-stakes race, with Chinese state media increasingly portraying the strategy as a response to what it calls a U.S.-led attempt to erect an “AI Iron Curtain.”