Why Mark Zuckerberg thinks banning Chinese AI models won't help the US

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said blocking advanced Chinese AI models in the US would not be an effective response to growing competition from China

Meta Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mark Zuckerberg said that restricting Chinese AI models is not the best way for the US to stay ahead. Instead, he said the US should focus on improving its own AI ecosystem while avoiding rules that could limit competition, the Financial Times reported.

 

What did Zuckerberg say

 

In an interview with the Financial Times, Zuckerberg said blocking advanced Chinese AI models in the US would not be an effective response to growing competition from China.

 

His comments come as the Trump administration considers action against some Chinese AI companies over allegations that they used intellectual property from US rivals to train their models.

 

Rather than imposing bans, Zuckerberg said the US should identify the barriers slowing its own AI progress and remove them to compete more effectively with China.

 

Chinese AI race is heating up

 

The debate has gained momentum after Beijing-based Moonshot AI launched its Kimi K3 model earlier this month. The model is seen as closing the gap with leading US AI systems developed by OpenAI and Anthropic.

 

Senior Trump administration officials have alleged that Moonshot used a technique called "distillation" to secretly train its model using American AI systems. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has also said sanctions remain an option for Chinese AI companies found guilty of intellectual property theft.   

 

Warning against 'regulatory capture'

 

Zuckerberg also cautioned against allowing a small group of leading AI companies to shape regulations for the industry.

 

“There’s always this question of regulatory capture if you have a set of businesses that have their own interests that are doing peer review,” Zuckerberg told the newspaper. “Are the frontier labs... going to want an open-source model to succeed? I think that there have kind of been some mixed signals on that.”

 

'AI for everyone'

 

Zuckerberg again backed the idea of "AI for everyone" and reiterated his support for open-source AI models that users can modify and run on their own devices.

 

He warned that AI development should not become concentrated in the hands of a few companies, arguing that wider access to AI technology would encourage innovation and competition.

 

At the same time, Meta has also started expanding its own closed AI offerings. The company recently launched its proprietary Muse Spark model, saying safety concerns were one reason for keeping it closed.

 

AI rules under discussion

 

The Trump administration is expected to announce a voluntary framework that would allow AI developers to submit their models for testing before public release.

 

Several leading AI companies have proposed different approaches.

 

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has called for stronger regulation of advanced AI systems, while Google DeepMind chief Demis Hassabis has suggested creating an industry-led body, similar to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), to develop common standards.

 

Cybersecurity debate continues

 

Zuckerberg also disagreed with limiting access to the most powerful AI models over cybersecurity concerns. He said that advanced AI tools can help companies detect security flaws and fix them more quickly.

 

Referring to a recent cyber incident involving an OpenAI system, Zuckerberg said restricted access to frontier AI models may sometimes leave organisations relying on open-source alternatives to address security vulnerabilities.

 

OpenAI and Anthropic have both said they do not support restrictions on open models. However, Amodei has argued that wider access to advanced AI capabilities does not automatically improve security or make it easier to build safeguards.