Extracted reasoning traces hint some Chinese AI trained on US models

Researchers devised a technique to extract "reasoning traces" from Claude, GPT, and Gemini. They say patterns in those traces indicate some Chinese AI models may have been trained on outputs from leading US models.

Why it matters: If confirmed, this adds to a recurring pattern of allegations, including around DeepSeek, that Chinese labs have used distillation from US frontier models to cut training costs, which feeds directly into export-control debates and how labs protect model outputs as IP. It also demonstrates a general auditing method for tracing model lineage that could matter for future enforcement.