Battle for artificial intelligence (AI) dominance between the United States and China is about technological innovation and simultaneously it also unfolding a new series of of cyber warfare. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has accused American hackers of launching cyberattacks on the servers of DeepSeek. Chinese state broadcaster CCTV stated that the attacks originated from the US and were targeted attempts to compromise the AI infrastructure of DeepSeek. Timing of the accusations is striking as it is alleged that DeepSeek has stolen proprietary data from OpenAI and Microsoft to train its own AI models.
China claims that DeepSeek has been the victim of a series of brute-force attacks and it started with Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attempts. The CCP has pointed to IP addresses traced back to the US as evidence.
However, the claim comes when OpenAI and Microsoft have accused DeepSeek of unethical practices. The security team of Microsoft stated that they have evidence of the data theft and it is linked to individuals associated with DeepSeek. Timing of the cyberattack claims from China suggests that it could be a strategic move to counterbalance the allegations against DeepSeek.
AI war between the US and China has long been brewing, but the latest escalation signals that it is now a geopolitical struggle.
The cyberattacks on the servers of DeepSeek add another layer of complexity to this ongoing conflict. If the claims of China are true, it would suggest that state or private entities in the US are actively trying to undermine China’s AI progress.