A digital workforce is the'way to go' in dealing with labor crunches, says Chinese AI firm Guanchun Wang of Laiye says a digital workforce enabled by artificial intelligence can address problems such as the Great Resignation in the West and falling birth rates in China.

An artificial-intelligence company recently awarded a Chinese patent for a voice assistant similar to Apple Inc.'s Siri has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Apple that, if successful, could prevent the American tech giant from selling many of its products in the world's second-largest economy. Shanghai Zhizhen Network Technology Co. said in a statement on Monday it was suing Apple for an estimated 10 billion yuan ($1.43 billion) in damages in a Shanghai court, alleging the iPhone- and iPad-maker's products violated...

MIT has terminated a research collaboration with iFlytek, a Chinese artificial intelligence company accused of supplying technology for surveilling Muslims in the northwestern province of Xinjiang. The university canceled the relationship in February after reviewing an upcoming project under tightened guidelines governing funding from companies in China, Russia, and Saudi Arabia. MIT has not said why it terminated the iFlytek collaboration or disclosed details about the project that prompted the review, but it has faced pushback from some students and staff about the arrangement since it began two years ago. "We take very seriously concerns about national security and economic security threats from China and other countries, and human rights issues," says Maria Zuber, vice president of research at MIT. US companies and universities have built ties with Chinese tech firms in recent years. But the relationships have come under increasing scrutiny as relations between the two countries have soured.

The blacklisted companies include Hikvision and Dahua, both of which are global providers of video surveillance technology. Hikvision said in a statement Monday that it respects human rights and strongly opposes the Trump administration's decision. The company said it has spent a year trying to "clarify misunderstandings about the company and address their concerns," and that this will hurt its U.S. business partners. Prominent Chinese AI firms such as Sense Time, Megvii and iFlytek are also on the list. Sense Time and Megvii are known for the development of computer vision technology that underpins facial recognition products, while iFlytek is known for its voice recognition and translation services.

The US Commerce Department has said it is adding 28 Chinese government organizations and private businesses, including eight tech giants, to its so-called Entity List for acting against American foreign policy interests. The move effectively bars any US companies from selling technology to the blacklisted firms and organizations without US government approval. The US says they have been involved in human rights violations against Uighurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang region. The list notably includes several companies that serve on China's national AI team, which the government formed as part of its strategy to become a global leader in the technology. These are video surveillance company Hikvision, voice recognition giant iFlytek, image recognition companies Megvii and SenseTime, and machine vision and voice recognition company Yitu.

Sensetime, one of China's most impressive young machine-learning companies, is about to start developing new autonomous technologies for one of the world's biggest automakers. Sensetime is part of a crop of homegrown firms that shows just how vibrant the AI industry is becoming in China. When I visited the company's headquarters in Shenzhen earlier this year, I found it to have built a range of computer vision technologies and a formidable team of engineers. While Sensetime may not be well known outside of China, it is one of the world's most valuable AI startups, having received a $410 million funding injection in July, giving it a valuation in excess of $1 billion. The company provides vision technology to scores of big businesses in China, for everything from facial recognition for surveillance to augmented-reality programs for smartphones. It also has ambitions to grow internationally.