The release of Moonshot's Kimi K3 model upended assumptions that Chinese AI capabilities were meaningfully behind U.S. leaders such as OpenAI and Anthropic. A White House official accused China's Moonshot of improperly using U.S. AI models and Nvidia chips to create the Kimi K3 system that stunned the tech industry last week with its advanced capabilities. The company "acquired GB300-equipped servers and has accessed GB300s in Thailand, likely to train its AI models," White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios said in a social media post Wednesday, making the case that Moonshot violated U.S. export control rules and companies' terms of service to build its product. The semiconductor servers Kratsios referenced are part of the Blackwell generation of Nvidia products, which the U.S. forbids from sale to Chinese companies. Though the Trump administration has allowed some sales of Nvidia's H200 chips, it continues to prevent sales of the more advanced Blackwells. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.

Iranian drones are displayed in an undisclosed location in Iran, in this handout image obtained on Jan. 13, 2025.U.S. officials have acknowledged that Russia has provided targeting and other support for Iran in its drone strikes on U.S. targets in the Persian Gulf region. WASHINGTON/RIYADH - Iranian drone attacks on CIA facilities in the Persian Gulf have prompted U.S. intelligence analysts to investigate whether Russia assisted by providing targeting information or advanced drone technology, said four people familiar with U.S. intelligence. These people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss national security matters, said U.S. intelligence officials have not yet reached firm conclusions about the possible Russian involvement in the attacks on CIA facilities. But they cited the strikes' effectiveness and apparent precision, as well as Russia's broader technical support for Iran, as possible evidence. It has been previously reported -- and U.S. officials have acknowledged -- that Russia has provided targeting and other support for Iran in its strikes on U.S. targets in the Gulf region generally, but the intelligence community's investigation of possible Russian involvement in supporting the CIA facility attacks has not been previously disclosed. At least two CIA sites were struck in March, it has been reported.

U.S. and China to hold AI talks in September, sources say Talks between the United States and China on artificial intelligence are set to take place in September and be led on the U.S. side by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, sources have said. BEIJING - The United States and China will hold talks over artificial intelligence in September, five people familiar with the matter said, as the rival superpowers grapple with how to mitigate the risks posed by each other's increasingly powerful frontier models. The AI talks, a significant outcome of the summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in May, will likely take place before Xi's planned Sept. 24 visit to the U.S., said the sources, who asked not to be named as the information is not public. The dates, however, have not been finalized, they said. As economic, political and military rivals, China and the U.S. have grown increasingly anxious over each other's AI capabilities amid an accelerating global AI race. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.

Chinese AI sensation Moonshot's gamble on big models pays off People visit the Moonshot AI stand, featuring the Kimi K3 model, during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai on Saturday. Crowds rushed to an obscure corner of China's premier tech summit, moving past monumental booths from Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings to catch a glimpse of the hottest name in domestic artificial intelligence. Developers and users at the World AI Conference jostled for a closer look at Moonshot and its Kimi K3 -- the giant 2.8 trillion-parameter model whose release on Friday showed China was closing the gap on OpenAI and Anthropic PBC far quicker than anticipated. The startup became an instant global sensation, drawing comparisons to DeepSeek's 2025 breakout and plaudits from the likes of Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Such was the crush over the weekend that Moonshot blew through its entire stock of branded swag in just a few hours. Moonshot's emergence is a vindication not just for the country's AI industry, but also for founder Yang Zhilin.