China’s AI agents can lie and scheme — just like their U.S. rivals

The World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai on July 6, 2023. Chinese artificial intelligence companies have not been exposed to the same level of public scrutiny as in the United States. | REUTERS

Sep 30, 2026

BEIJING – Chinese-powered artificial intelligence agents have learn to deceive, circumvent restrictions and conceal failure, showing the kind of traits in autonomous artificial intelligence that have raised global alarm about U.S. models, research documents and experts say.

In one case this year, agents powered by models from China’s Alibaba, DeepSeek and Moonshot lied about their capabilities in a bid to win a simulated business tender, then doubled down on their deceptive behavior when told to try again.

In another case, agents — programs that use AI models and computer tools to undertake complex tasks with little or no human intervention — concealed failure to complete a task in a test environment by simulating results and fabricating files.

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