US Lawmakers Investigate DoorDash Over Use of Chinese AI Model Kimi
Two US House committee chairs have launched a joint investigation into DoorDash, demanding information on its use of Moonshot AI's Kimi model for coding tasks. The probe was triggered after DoorDash's co-founder revealed the company uses a model routing service that delegates tasks to Kimi K2.6 to reduce costs and improve performance. This investigation underscores the intensifying geopolitical rivalry and regulatory scrutiny surrounding AI technology between the US and China. It highlights how US national security concerns are colliding with the commercial interests of businesses seeking cost-effective, high-performing global AI models. DoorDash's internal testing showed that combining Moonshot's Kimi K2.6 with Anthropic's Fable 5 outperformed a combination of Anthropic's Sonnet 4.6 and Opus 4.8 at a lower cost. In response to the inquiry, DoorDash stated it supports US AI leadership and is committed to cooperating with the committee regarding its safe use of both domestic and open-weight models.
## BACKGROUND
Moonshot AI is a prominent Chinese artificial intelligence startup known for its Kimi chatbot and large language models. Model routing is a technique that dynamically directs user prompts to the most suitable AI model in a pool to optimize cost, speed, and quality. Open-weight models allow developers to download and run the model's parameters locally, offering high customization but raising security concerns as they lack centralized monitoring.