Pull US AI Research Out of China

This piece was updated Aug. 11 to add information from Google. Recently, the Biden administration and a host of allies called out China for its massive Microsoft Exchange hack (among others), and threatened strengthened cyber defense measures and continued exposure of the PRC's malicious cyber activity. But despite a lot of hard talk about securing America's cyber defenses, action is wanting, and the government has failed to address a glaring boon to the PRC's cyber capabilities: our own companies' AI research centers in China. Housing the AI research labs of America's cutting-edge tech companies in authoritarian China was never a good idea. But given that the Chinese government uses foreign tech companies to help find and exploit security vulnerabilities, and that it is claiming ever more control over tech companies' operations and data, it looks more objectionable than ever. AI is an increasingly crucial element of cyber security and hacking, and Xi Jinping's China has demonstrated time and time again that China's high-tech sector serves the CCP, which sees AI technology in particular as a core tool of its future autocratic rule.