Jensen Huang Says AI Model Distillation Is Competition, Not Theft

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said on CNBC's Squawk Box that AI model distillation—using another model's outputs to train a new model—is a form of market competition. When asked if it counts as "plundering," he replied: "That's called competition."

Huang noted that companies dissect Nvidia's products to understand how they work. While he'd prefer no one studied their products, he acknowledged competition makes everything better. He suggested that if you don't want others using your product, just understand your customers and shut off the service.

Earlier, U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent called distillation "theft" and threatened sanctions. The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and Anthropic also accused Chinese AI companies of "illegal distillation." China has rejected these claims.