OpenAI now wants to make DeepSeek look like the villain
OpenAI is investigating allegations that Chinese AI startup DeepSeek may have improperly leveraged its technology to develop a competing language model, intensifying an ongoing debate over intellectual property and fair use in artificial intelligence.
According to reports from Bloomberg and the Financial Times, OpenAI and its key investor, Microsoft, are reviewing evidence that DeepSeek may have violated OpenAI’s terms of service by employing a technique known as “distillation” to train its AI models. This method, commonly used in the industry, involves learning from a more advanced AI system to create a similar but smaller model. While not outright theft, the practice raises ethical and legal concerns when applied across competing organizations.
A spokesperson for OpenAI confirmed that the company is “aware of and reviewing indications that DeepSeek may have inappropriately distilled our models, and will share information as we know more.”
The allegations come at a time when OpenAI itself faces legal challenges over its own data usage practices. The company has been sued by multiple content creators, including The New York Times, for allegedly training its models on copyrighted material without permission. OpenAI maintains that its use of publicly available data falls under the legal doctrine of “fair use.”
Industry experts are divided on the situation. Some argue that model distillation is a widely accepted practice in AI development and that OpenAI’s claims reflect a defensive posture against rising global competition. Others suggest that if DeepSeek did, in fact, extract knowledge from OpenAI’s systems without authorization, it could set a precedent for tighter regulations in the field.
AI consultant Zack Kass noted the fine line between acceptable distillation and outright data extraction. “Distillation is a common practice in AI, but it’s typically done within the same organization that owns both models. If DeepSeek trained its model by querying ChatGPT at scale and using the responses to teach its own model, it raises legitimate concerns about unauthorized use.”
As the AI industry expands with increasing global competition, the case highlights the growing need for clear legal frameworks to define the boundaries between innovation, fair competition, and intellectual property protection. Whether OpenAI proceeds with legal action remains to be seen, but the controversy underscores the escalating stakes in the race for AI dominance.
