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One hundred and seventeen days ago, Chinese company DeepSeek launched its flagship model, DeepSeek R-1. In the following days and weeks, American experts wrung their hands and shook their heads, many considering for the first time the possibility that we may be losing the so-called “AI Arms Race.” DeepSeek claims R-1 was developed faster and cheaper than comparable U.S. models. Others argue DeepSeek at a minimum violated Open AI’s terms of service to obtain proprietary training data.

Where everyone seems to agree is that AI startups should be innovating faster. I’ve heard colleagues suggest we should forget regulations, ignore IP laws, and just focus on clearing the way for AI companies. I agree everyone wins when we foster American AI startups. But I think it’s a false choice to say we can succeed, but only if we do so irresponsibly. 

If you walk around Capitol Hill today, you can see plants sprouting out of the soil, beginning to grow. What you’ll notice if you look closely, is some of those shoots growing in the shade look like they’re growing faster than the others. As they race for just a little bit of sunlight, yes, they grow quickly, but ultimately, they grow less hardy, more brittle, and prone to disease. 

AI innovation works the same way. As we seek ways to promote American AI startups, we should also work to ensure that businesses meet minimum standards for system cybersecurity; we should ask what types of transparency are necessary to protect other IP rights and consider how to set standards while still protecting trade secrets. By encouraging companies to meet best practices and respect intellectual property rights, we will foster hardy competition that protects U.S. innovation from those who seek to undermine our success.

The government of China has made no secret of its intent to steal American intellectual property. And there is bipartisan agreement that the United States should protect its innovations from those who seek to benefit from American ingenuity.

There is also a right way and a wrong way to compete with our adversaries. While we don’t always agree on this Committee, we have had meaningful discussions on the right way to protect American IP from the government of China, cybersecurity standards to keep our people and our institutions safe, and the threat landscape to AI innovation. 

Donald Trump on the other hand, has acted in ways that hurt American businesses. His ideologically inconsistent and unpredictable tariffs have hurt American consumers, American businesses, and our allies. Innovation in America suffers when the path forward is uncertain.

For generations, American companies have benefited from attracting the best and the brightest from other nations. Yet seemingly without reason, Trump again and again hurts American businesses by attempting to revoke already granted student visas and threating the H1-B visa program for highly skilled immigrants.

The deleterious impact of these policies on AI innovation should not be ignored. According to a recent study, immigrants have founded or cofounded 28 of the top 43 AI companies in the United States, and 70 percent of full-time graduate students in fields related to artificial intelligence are international students.

So instead of focusing on policies that stand to derail American innovation, we should focus on upholding our treaties and respecting our allies. We should encourage our research institutions to engage with universities around the world. The breakneck speed of innovation has made it easier than ever to reach out to people around the world. Now is not a time for isolationism because history has shown us that true innovation thrives on openness. Afterall, groundbreaking inventions rarely emerge when knowledge is walled off. 

I thank the witnesses for being here today and I yield back.