Bessent Warns Chinese AI Models Lack Guardrails, Cites France Hacks
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday that Chinese AI models are dangerous because they lack guardrails, claiming one was used in attacks on French grocery refrigerators.
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Speaking at The Heritage Foundation’s Forum conference in Oxon Hill, Maryland, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent predicted that “you’re probably going to see a big incident somewhere in the world.”
He attributed the risk to Chinese artificial intelligence systems, which he described as inexpensive, copied from American work, and released without safety controls.
“Chinese models are very cheap. Another thing the Chinese are very good at, and their models are dangerous because they don’t have guardrails on them,” Bessent said Thursday.
A Claim About France
Bessent then pointed to sabotage of grocery refrigeration systems in France.
“I don’t know who here saw the refrigerators in 150 grocery stores in France that got turned off,” he said. “That was a Chinese model. Probably the worst of all worlds, the Iranians using a Chinese model.”
What France Has Reported
French authorities have described a larger and different operation. In the night of Oct. 11–12, intruders altered defrost settings on internet-connected refrigeration controllers at about 700 retail sites, Clash Report previously reported.
The equipment was driven to high temperatures — in some cases around 50°C — rather than simply switched off. Food spoiled, at least 15 fires broke out, and losses were estimated in the tens of millions of euros.
France has since formally attributed the campaign to Shahid Kaveh, a cyber unit it said was affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot publicly pointed to the IRGC.
No official French report reviewed for this article identified a Chinese AI model as a tool in the attacks. Bessent did not present public evidence for that claim, and it has not been independently confirmed.
Copying and Coming Talks
Earlier in the same remarks, Bessent said Chinese developers were reproducing American systems through what he called “industrial-scale distillation, or theft.”
He argued that stronger U.S. models were the best protection and that development “cannot slow down.” Clash Report has also reported his recent confrontation with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick over controls on China-linked access to advanced chips.
Bessent is due to travel with President Donald Trump to Asia in the coming days and has been working on an artificial intelligence dialogue with Chinese officials, including planned talks with Vice Premier He Lifeng in Shenzhen.
He has separately asked Beijing to use its influence with Tehran to help end the war with Iran, The Washington Post has reported.
Kamer Kurunç
Kamer Kurunç is the Team Leader of Clash Report and has led the outlet for four years. He oversees its breaking world news coverage, from the Middle East and the Russia-Ukraine war to defense and global politics. His focus is fast, verified, source-based reporting. Follow him on X at @kamerknc.
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