05:06 AM EDT, 07/08/2026 (MT Newswires) -- China is considering limiting foreign access to locally developed artificial intelligence models and has held meetings with major technology companies over the last month over the matter, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing three unnamed sources familiar with the matter.

China's Ministry of Commerce led the meetings and among the participants are startup Z.ai, ByteDance and Alibaba Group ( BABA ) , the sources told Reuters.

One of the sources said Chinese officials also talked about potential regulations to restrict investors allowed to fund local AI startups, according to the report. Two sources said talks are ongoing over the possible rules, which could only cover future AI models, Reuters added.

Z.ai, ByteDance, Alibaba ( BABA ) and China's Ministry of Commerce did not immediately respond to MT Newswires' requests for comments.

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