July 28 (Reuters) - The U.S. government should not block Chinese models to gain an edge in the AI race, Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg told the Financial Times in an interview published on Tuesday, as Washington warns that Chinese companies could face penalties over the alleged theft of U.S. technology.
Zuckerberg said that banning cutting-edge Chinese AI would not be "an effective solution," adding that U.S. companies should "systematically” identify bottlenecks and roadblocks in order to better
compete with Chinese AI firms.
Beijing-based Moonshot AI, whose recently released Kimi K3 model has drawn attention for its coding capabilities, has intensified debate in Washington over whether Chinese developers are copying U.S. models or rapidly closing the technological gap through their own research.
The Trump administration on Tuesday unveiled bans that target imports of new Chinese robots and power inverters, seeking to protect the U.S. AI buildout from national security threats and reshore key industries slated for explosive growth.
Separately, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has warned that Chinese companies could face financial sanctions or placement on the Commerce Department's Entity List, which restricts access to U.S. technology.
When asked for a comment on the FT interview, Meta referred to an opinion piece by Zuckerberg in the Wall Street Journal.
(Reporting by Gnaneshwar Rajan in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Mrigank Dhaniwala)
