Google has officially announced that it is opening an AI center in Beijing, China. The confirmation comes after months of speculation fueled by a major push to hire AI talent inside the country. Google's search engine is blocked in China, but the company still has hundreds of staff in China which work on its international services. In reference to that workforce, Alphabet chairman Eric Schmidt has said the company "never left" China, and it makes sense that Google wouldn't want to ignore China's deep and growing AI talent pool, which has been hailed by experts that include former Google China head Kaifu Lee. Like the general talent with Google China, this AI hiring push isn't a sign that Google will launch new services in China.

Google's search engine is blocked in China, but the company still has hundreds of staff in China which work on its international services. In reference to that workforce, Alphabet chairman Eric Schmidt has said the company "never left" China, and it makes sense that Google wouldn't want to ignore …