US Government Website Briefly Ran Alibaba's Qwen — Days After the FBI Called Such Models Malicious
Ars Technica AI · rss · 2026-09-19
US officials on Wednesday removed a Chinese AI search tool briefly deployed on the Federal Register website, Reuters reported. The removal came after social media users spotted an apparent contradiction: the National Archives was offering visitors a Qwen model from Alibaba to search public comments on proposed regulations — even though the FBI had earlier this month named Alibaba among six leading Chinese firms allegedly conducting "industrial-scale distillation" of US frontier models, which the agency says helps America's biggest rival cut costs and development time in the AI race.
It's unclear when the Qwen-powered search went live. The National Archives has not commented on the removal or responded to Ars' request for comment; the White House and FBI also declined to comment.
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