BEIJING, July 27 (Xinhua) -- China on Monday urged the United States to stop smearing Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) companies and threatening them with sanctions, saying such actions lack factual and legal grounds and constitute a typical form of AI hegemony.

A spokesperson for China's Ministry of Commerce made the remarks in response to reports that some senior U.S. officials had publicly called for investigations into Chinese AI companies over their alleged "distillation" of advanced U.S. models and might impose sanctions on them on such grounds as the alleged "theft of U.S. intellectual property." ■