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US Federal Register Removes Chinese AI Tool After FBI Allegations

The Federal Register website, operated by the National Archives, briefly offered a search tool powered by Alibaba’s Qwen AI model to help users browse public comments on proposed federal regulations. The tool appeared on Wednesday, but was removed the same day after social‑media posts and a Reuters review of archived site code revealed the deployment. The move came amid the FBI’s recent accusation that Alibaba copied Anthropic’s technology, a claim that the Chinese embassy called “unfounded” and that the White House and National Archives declined to comment on. AI experts said the Qwen model, an open‑weight system, likely posed no immediate national‑security risk because it processed only publicly available regulatory text. Nonetheless, the incident raised questions about whether federal agencies are contradicting their own warnings that no U.S. government entity should rely on Chinese AI models. Representative John Moolenaar and Senator Mark Warner echoed concerns, arguing that any use of a Chinese‑controlled system could expose U.S. data to foreign servers. The episode underscores the broader debate over AI regulation and the tension between encouraging innovation and protecting national security.

· jpost.com

The essential points

  1. 01Federal Register briefly used Alibaba’s Qwen AI to search public regulatory comments.
  2. 02The tool was taken down on the same day it appeared, after FBI allegations of model copying.
  3. 03AI experts say open‑weight Qwen likely posed no immediate cybersecurity risk due to processing only public data.
  4. 04Lawmakers warned that any U.S. agency using a Chinese AI model could expose sensitive data to foreign servers.
The full brief

The Federal Register website, operated by the National Archives, briefly offered a search tool powered by Alibaba’s Qwen AI model to help users browse public comments on proposed federal regulations. The tool appeared on Wednesday, but was removed the same day after social‑media posts and a Reuters review of archived site code revealed the deployment. The move came amid the FBI’s recent accusation that Alibaba copied Anthropic’s technology, a claim that the Chinese embassy called “unfounded” and that the White House and National Archives declined to comment on. AI experts said the Qwen model, an open‑weight system, likely posed no immediate national‑security risk because it processed only publicly available regulatory text.

Nonetheless, the incident raised questions about whether federal agencies are contradicting their own warnings that no U. S. government entity should rely on Chinese AI models. Representative John Moolenaar and Senator Mark Warner echoed concerns, arguing that any use of a Chinese‑controlled system could expose U.

S. data to foreign servers. The episode underscores the broader debate over AI regulation and the tension between encouraging innovation and protecting national security.