US Warns Foreign Governments of Chinese AI Theft

Axoft, a Massachusetts-based US brain implant company, has become the first American firm to disclose testing brain-computer interface devices in China, conducting temporary trials on four patients at a Shanghai hospital as part of an 11-patient global study. The company, which raised US$55 million in funding, is focusing on medical applications including measuring consciousness levels in coma patients and helping brain injury survivors communicate. Axoft CEO Paul Le Floch said the company plans additional clinical trials in China and aims to submit its device for US Food and Drug Administration approval in 2027. The announcement comes amid intensifying technology competition between the US and China. The US State Department has ordered diplomatic posts worldwide to warn foreign governments about what it calls widespread intellectual property theft by Chinese AI companies, including DeepSeek and Moonshot AI. This followed a complaint by Anthropic alleging that three Chinese AI firms generated over 16 million exchanges with Claude through approximately 24,000 fraudulent accounts to train rival models. Notably, Moonshot AI CEO Zhilin Yang appeared as a speaker at Nvidia's GTC 2026 annual event. In a separate development, Beijing-based autonomous driving company MOGOX achieved an international milestone by deploying China's first driverless buses on public routes in Singapore. The company, founded in 2017, partnered with BYD and Singapore's MKX Technologies for the project, which will serve Marina Bay and one-north areas in the latter half of 2026. MOGOX vice-president Lu Bin said Singapore's strict regulatory standards serve as a "gold standard" and certification from the city-state opens doors to high-specification global markets. Chinese autonomous driving firms are increasingly expanding abroad as China aims to become the world leader in driverless vehicles by 2035.