Researchers at Microsoft, a major investor in Open AI, which is behind the chat robot Chat GPT, are said to have discovered individuals with suspected links to Chinese Deepseek extracting large amounts of data from Open AI's programming interface during the autumn.
Developers can pay to use the interface to integrate Open AI's artificial intelligence into their own apps, but there are limitations on how much data they can retrieve.
Deepseek's breakthrough with the new AI model R1 has shaken the tech industry, and raised questions about the entire American technology sector's lead in AI.
David Sacks, who was recently appointed "White House AI tsar" by President Donald Trump, said on Tuesday that there is "significant evidence" that Deepseek based its development on Open AI's models.
I don't think Open AI is particularly happy about this, Sacks said in an interview with Fox News, without providing further details.
Deepseek has not commented on Bloomberg's reports.
