The Chinese government is using hackers to target U.S.-based artificial intelligence companies using their own form of AI bots.
This comes amid a race between Washington and Beijing to ensure dominance in the AI industry. Google said it discovered that Chinese hacker groups are using AI to automate their efforts.
From NBC News:
Hackers working for Chinese intelligence are increasingly targeting American AI research and using AI in their operations, Google said Tuesday.
In its latest quarterly report, Google’s Threat Intelligence Group said that several hacker groups, including both intelligence agencies and cybercrime gangs, have moved from basic AI prompting to using AI agents that automate wide swaths of their intrusion.
The switch means hackers spend drastically less time actively hacking, and in some cases can conduct an entire campaign in less than six hours, the report says.
Google said that one Chinese group in particular, which it has tracked since 2023, has relentlessly focused on academic, medical and military research organizations in North America and has specifically gone after proprietary AI research. Google did not name any of the victims.
While American intelligence agencies also have powerful cyberespionage capabilities, the U.S. has long accused China of hacking its companies for economic advantage, a tactic Western countries generally say is unacceptable.
Liu Chang, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, broadly denied the claims.
“China opposes hacking activities and fights such activities in accordance with the law. That said, we firmly reject vilification and smears under the pretext of cybersecurity,” he said.
U.S. Treasury @SecScottBessent warns "there is no day after tomorrow" if China wins the AI race.
— Innovation Council (@innovationcncl) September 8, 2026
"A trillion and a half dollar defense budget, the Iron Dome — if they were to pull away [from] us on AI, then nothing would matter."
‼️‼️‼️ pic.twitter.com/qa8x63PY5S
A 2026 CrowdStrike report detailed how Chinese-aligned groups accounted for over 58 percent of state-sponsored cyberattacks on tech companies over a 12-month period.
"China-nexus adversaries are escalating espionage against technology organizations to steal the AI capabilities and intellectual property they cannot build fast enough on their own," CrowdStrike researchers noted. These campaigns have focused on American technology firms, research institutions and government agencies as part of efforts to steal sensitive data.
Chinese developers are reportedly catching up to U.S. innovation in the AI space. They are capable of employing low-cost models that can perform many of the same tasks at a fraction of the price.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said, "China is well aware that it matters enormously who wins. Whoever wins that race, the result is going to be trillions and trillions of dollars of investment and millions of jobs. And so we want those jobs in America. We don't want those jobs in China. We want to have them here."
The lawmaker further stated that if the Chinese regime wins this AI race, “AI will embrace the Chinese values of surveillance, of espionage, of propaganda, of social control, social scores, using AI to try to control your life.”
