Beijing Considers Restrictions on Overseas Access to China's Top AI Models

The Chinese authorities have held meetings with top tech firms over the past month about potentially restricting overseas access to China's most advanced AI models. The talks follow a number of steps by Beijing to keep homegrown AI within the country. Companies present at the talks included tech giants Alibaba and ByteDance as well as startup Z.ai. Since the emergence of DeepSeek's R1 model last year, Chinese AI models have made big inroads globally thanks to their low costs and increasing capabilities.

Chinese authorities discussed putting limits on the most advanced AI models, both closed-source and open versions. Officials talked about making any leak or theft of proprietary AI technology an offence under China's stringent national security law. The officials also raised the possibility of implementing new measures to restrict who can fund domestic AI startups. The scope of the potential restrictions is still being discussed, with the possibility that they may only apply to future models.

Z.ai has recently set Silicon Valley abuzz as the capabilities of its GLM-5.2 model come close to leading U.S. offerings but at a fraction of the cost. This move has raised concerns about the potential for exploitation of Chinese AI models. US President Donald Trump's administration has also been deeply concerned about national security implications of AI. In June, it ordered that foreign nationals not have access to Anthropic's most advanced Fable and Mythos models.

China has implemented numerous measures to protect homegrown AI. In April, the country's state planner ordered Meta to unwind its $2 billion acquisition of Chinese-founded AI startup Manus. In early June, authorities issued sweeping new rules, tightening control of overseas deals that involve Chinese investors, technology, data and national security. China had also launched investigations this year into Manus and other local AI startups that had moved abroad, seeking to establish whether they have broken export control laws.

China's Ministry of Commerce, the National Development and Reform Commission, Alibaba, ByteDance, and Z.ai have not responded to Reuters requests for comment. A summary of a May roundtable of Chinese legal experts on regulations governing open-source AI proposed a tiered system: basic open-source tools subject to a simple filing, more advanced technologies facing security reviews, and the most sensitive frontier models barred from public release.