Clued-in | From dark money campaigns to official narratives: How U.S. hypes the 'China AI Threat'

In early May, Taylor Lorenz, a senior reporter for Wired magazine, published an exclusive report exposing a dark-money influence operation orchestrated by the Build American AI organization spreading pro-AI messaging and stoke fears about China.

In her article, Lorenz noted that the group is a non-profit entity linked to the Leading the Future super PAC, which has received massive funding from major tech investors including OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman, Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, Andreessen Horowitz, and others—raising hundreds of millions of dollars.

The report further noted that Build American AI hired a professional marketing firm to run a targeted influencer campaign on platforms like TikTok and Instagram. Marketing agencies are pitching influencers deals such as $5,000 per TikTok video to amplify Build American AI's messaging about how China's technological rise should be seen as a threat.

Lorenz noted in her report that influencers were paid approximately $5,000 per TikTok video to follow scripted content. In the first phase, they heavily promoted the technological superiority and innovative potential of American AI. In the second phase, the focus shifted to smearing China's AI development, portraying it as a multi-faceted threat to U.S. national security, personal data privacy, employment, domestic industries, and even the safety of young people

According to the report, sample messaging provided by Build American AI to content creators includes lines like "I just learned that China is trying really hard to beat the US in AI. If they do, it could mean that China gets personal data from me and my kids, and take jobs that should be here in the US. In the AI innovation race, I'm Team USA!"

Notably, some influencers did not disclose the funding source or any connection to Build American AI, preserving the appearance of grassroots authenticity. Insiders from the marketing firm told Lorenz that the goal was to "subtly shift public debate by framing China's AI advancement as a serious risk to the safety and well-being of Americans."

This revelation quickly drew international attention. It not only revealed new tactics employed by U.S. AI interest groups in conducting "modern public opinion warfare" on social media but also highlighted how the United States is intensifying its rhetorical strategy against China amid significant shifts in the balance of AI capabilities between the two countries.

This dark-money influencer campaign is not an isolated incident, but rather a grassroots extension embedded within the broader official U.S. narrative framing Chinese AI as a threat.

Hyping up the 'China AI Threat' from top to bottom: Intelligence assessments and congressional actions building a 'threat consensus'

In U.S. government and intelligence circles, China's AI development has long been positioned as a primary strategic threat. The 2026 Annual Threat Assessment released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) explicitly states that China is the "most capable strategic competitor" in the AI field, which aims at surpassing the United States to become the world's most influential AI power by 2030. The report highlights China's advantages in large-scale AI adoption, talent pools, data resources, and government support, while emphasizing risks from AI applications and cyber capabilities. Even where China has not fully surpassed the U.S. in certain frontier metrics, the sheer scale of its AI deployment is viewed as a potential threat.

This hysterical assessment has provided the core foundation for subsequent policies and public rhetoric. At the congressional level, bipartisan lawmakers have amplified the narrative through multiple hearings. In March 2026, a subcommittee of the House Homeland Security Committee held a hearing focusing on the “risks” posed by Chinese AI and robotics technologies—such as those from DeepSeek and Unitree Robotics—to U.S. critical infrastructure, national security, and economic security.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) under the Department of Commerce released a comprehensive evaluation of Chinese AI models such as DeepSeek in 2025 through its Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI). According to South China Morning Post's report, this marked the U.S. government's first systematic comparison of leading Chinese and American frontier models. The assessment categorizes Chinese models as "adversary AI". It directly supports the US administration's "American AI Action Plan" and serves the goals of export controls and domestic industry support.

The social media battlefield: Synergistic amplification by dark money and official narratives

Social media has become a primary battlefield for this rhetorical offensive. The Build American AI influencer campaign is a textbook example: it precisely targets young audiences and uses social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram to transform abstract "national security threats" into relatable everyday concerns—such as "Chinese AI stealing your data," "endangering children's safety," or "taking American jobs." These scripted messages closely mirror the language in official reports but are presented as the "personal discoveries" of influencers, making them more emotionally resonant and shareable.

Beyond such dark-money operations, U.S. think tanks, industry groups, and officially backed reports also amplify the message across social platforms and mainstream media. Some analyses liken Chinese open-source AI to a "Trojan horse" that could embed foreign values or hidden malicious functions. Clips from congressional hearings, high-level interviews, and summaries of NIST reports are widely circulated on X, YouTube, and other platforms, further solidifying public perceptions.

U.S.-China AI competition is indeed intense. However, critics argue that the U.S. rhetorical strategy is selective: on one hand, it heavily amplifies the Chinese threat to secure regulatory leniency and export controls; on the other, it remains relatively muted on domestic AI giants' data privacy issues, monopoly risks, and military collaborations. This "threat inflation" serves domestic industry interests and geopolitical strategy, but it may also heighten international tensions and hinder necessary technical dialogue and risk governance cooperation.

From the dark-money influencer campaign exposed by Lorenz to the ODNI Annual Threat Assessment and congressional hearings, the United States has constructed a comprehensive chain of rhetoric—from official channels to grassroots platforms—systematically framing China's AI development as a "threat."

Transparent, fact-based discussions will help both sides and the international community better address the shared challenges posed by AI, rather than falling into zero-sum narrative traps.