House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Andrew R. Garbarino and House Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar announced on Apr. 29 a joint investigation into national security and cybersecurity risks from the growing use of artificial intelligence models developed in the People's Republic of China (PRC). The inquiry will focus on low-cost, open-weight, and API-accessible systems created by Chinese companies such as DeepSeek, Alibaba, Moonshot AI, and MiniMax.
The chairmen said concerns are rising that PRC-based AI firms are using unauthorized model distillation techniques to extract capabilities from leading American AI models. These capabilities are then repackaged into less expensive products without original safeguards and marketed to U.S. companies or consumers. They warned that distillation done through fraudulent accounts or violations of U.S. company terms poses threats related to intellectual property, cybersecurity, and supply chain integrity.
As part of their initial actions, Garbarino and Moolenaar sent letters to Anysphere and Airbnb about possible exposure to these risks through PRC-developed AI technology. The letter to Anysphere addressed the company's Cursor Composer 2 model for its reported foundation on an open-weight model from Moonshot AI—a company publicly linked with large-scale distillation campaigns targeting American systems.
In their letter to Anysphere, the chairmen wrote: “The billions of dollars American companies invest in foundational research, compute infrastructure, and security engineering is being undercut by a sustained extraction campaign conducted at a fraction of the cost of independent development. This threat is not limited to commercial harm... When capabilities are stripped out through distillation and repackaged without equivalent safeguards, the resulting models may become available to hostile state actors, terrorist organizations, and criminal enterprises.”
A separate letter sent to Airbnb asked for information regarding its reliance on an Alibaba-developed model for customer service operations. The chairmen expressed concern over choosing PRC technology because it is “fast and cheap,” stating: “[T]he Committees have serious concerns about the national security and data-security implications of that approach for Airbnb’s American customers...” They added: “[T]he spread of Chinese open-weight AI models carries consequences well beyond ordinary software adoption preferences… American firms adopting these models are not simply choosing a cheaper tool; they are importing an architecture designed to serve the Chinese state.”
Previous hearings held by subcommittees in March 2026 evaluated risks posed by technologies developed within adversarial ecosystems—finding they could create vulnerabilities or enable surveillance—and earlier letters urged federal action against certain PRC-linked firms in critical sectors.
