Top White House advisers this week expressed alarm that China's DeepSeek may have benefited from a method that allegedly piggybacks off the advances of US rivals called "distillation."

The sudden rise of Chinese AI app DeepSeek has leaders in Washington and Silicon Valley grappling with how to keep the U.S. ahead in the crucial technology.

People across China have taken to social media to hail the success of its homegrown tech startup DeepSeek and its founder, after the company unveiled its newest artificial intelligence model, sending shock waves through Silicon Valley and Wall Street.