China boycotts top AI conference after ban on papers from US-sanctioned entities
By Eduardo Baptista
SHANGHAI, March 27 (Reuters) – China’s largest federation of science and technology professionals announced on Friday it was boycotting a top organization. artificial intelligence The conference after the California-based foundation running the meeting stopped accepting applications from organizations within the US. sanctions.
The Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems, known as NeurIPS, announced a policy change earlier this week that effectively bans organizations such as Chinese tech companies Huawei and SMIC from submitting documents under US sanctions.
The decision sparked outrage in China, which is increasingly competing with the United States to develop the most cutting-edge artificial intelligence models. NeurIPS provides a crucial forum for researchers and companies worldwide to present peer-reviewed research, discuss the latest advances in artificial intelligence, and recruit the best talent in the industry.
In response, the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) said in a statement that it would stop accepting funding applications from members wishing to join NeurIPS and would instead refer them to local conferences or “international conferences that respect the rights and interests of Chinese scholars.”
NeurIPS’s new policy, said to have been put in place to comply with US law, means previous Chinese sponsors of the conference, such as Huawei, are exempt from submitting research papers.
CAST added that articles accepted in NeurIPS will no longer be recognized as qualified research outputs for funding programmes. However, their academic impact will still be recognized if evaluated by Chinese academic communities.
The escalating conflict highlights the impact of geopolitical tensions on cutting-edge artificial intelligence research, as the United States and China seek to use state power to influence each other’s frontier technology capabilities.
Washington has stepped up its scrutiny of Chinese scientists at U.S. universities in recent years and has investigated a growing number of alleged ties to mainland Chinese organizations. It has also sanctioned hundreds of Chinese universities and companies, preventing them from legally acquiring a wide range of advanced US technologies.
China has also tightened its regulatory screws recently, reportedly “banning two executives of AI agent startup Manus from leaving the country” as regulators examine whether Meta Platforms’ $2 billion acquisition of the China-based firm initially violated investment rules.
(Reporting by Eduardo Baptista in Shanghai; Editing by Jamie Freed)
