SINGAPORE – Chinese authorities have held meetings with top tech firms over the past month about potentially restricting overseas access to China’s most advanced AI models, including those yet to be released, three people familiar with the discussions said.

The talks follow a number of steps by Beijing to keep homegrown AI within the country and underscore how China, like the US, is now treating cutting-edge artificial intelligence as a critical national asset that needs controls.

Companies present at the talks included tech giants Alibaba and ByteDance as well as start-up Z.ai, said the people, who were not authorised to speak to media and declined to be identified.

Since the emergence of DeepSeek’s R1 model in 2025, Chinese AI models have made big inroads globally thanks to their low costs and increasing capabilities.

Any decision by Beijing to limit access to those products could ripple across AI markets as costs for many businesses would likely increase.

Toughening up penalties for AI theft discussed

At the meetings, led by China’s Ministry of Commerce, participants discussed putting limits on the most advanced AI models – both closed-source and more open versions, according to two of the sources.

Officials talked about making any leak or theft of proprietary AI technology an offence under China’s stringent national security law, one of the sources said.

The officials also raised the possibility of implementing new measures to restrict who can fund domestic AI start-ups, the source added.

The scope of the potential restrictions is still being discussed, two sources said, adding that they may only apply to future models. It was not immediately clear when or even if they would come into force.