OpenAI has alerted US lawmakers that its competitor, DeepSeek, is employing advanced distillation techniques to extract data from US AI models. This practice, described in a memo to the House Select Committee on China, allows DeepSeek to enhance its R1 chatbot by disseminating US capabilities without authorization. OpenAI argues that this trend undermines the enormous investments made by American firms and poses significant national security risks due to the potential for misuse of AI technology.