Follow Slashdot stories on Twitter

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
AI China Microsoft United States

Microsoft Debates What To Do With AI Lab In China 43

Posted by BeauHD from the politically-tenable dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the New York Times: When Microsoft opened an advanced research lab in Beijing in 1998, it was a time of optimism about technology and China. The company hired hundreds of researchers for the lab, which pioneered Microsoft's work in speech, image and facial recognition and the kind of artificial intelligence that later gave rise to online chatbots likeChatGPT. The Beijing operation eventually became one of the most important A.I. labs in the world. Bill Gates, Microsoft's co-founder, called it an opportunity to tap China's "deep pool of intellectual talent." But as tensions between the United States and China have mounted over which nation will lead the world's technological future, Microsoft's top leaders -- including Satya Nadella, its chief executive, and Brad Smith, its president -- have debated what to do with the prized lab for at least the past year, four current and former Microsoft employees said.

The company has faced questions from U.S. officials over whether maintaining a 200-person advanced technologies lab in China is tenable, the people said. Microsoft said it had instituted guardrails at the lab, restricting researchers from politically sensitive work. The company, which is based in Redmond, Wash., said it had also opened an outpost of the lab in Vancouver, British Columbia, and would move some researchers from China to the location. The outpost is a backup if more researchers need to relocate, two people said. The idea of shutting down or moving the lab has come up, but Microsoft's leaders support continuing it in China, four people said. "We are as committed as ever to the lab and the world-class research of this team," Peter Lee, who leads Microsoft Research, a network of eight labs across the world, said in a statement. Using the lab's formal name, he added, "There has been no discussion or advocacy to close Microsoft Research Asia, and we look forward to continuing our research agenda."
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Microsoft Debates What To Do With AI Lab In China More

Microsoft Debates What To Do With AI Lab In China

Comments Filter:
  • They probably will have a hard time moving it, as China will probably bar those scientists from leaving or operating outside of China (that's partially what the US also does with certain kind of jobs/technologies). As long as the US is also benefiting from the research done there, why bother and maybe even screw it up.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Junta ( 36770 )

      Problem is that Microsoft is not allowed to let a China site access competitive compute equipment for the research they would have them do.

      So you have an "AI Lab" that is not allowed to touch the gold standard platforms for doing AI work.

    • China will probably bar those scientists from leaving or operating outside of China

      I think one has to assume that a good portion of those scientists are already engaged in commercial espionage on behalf of the PRC, I doubt they will have any trouble obtaining exit visas. The PRC also maintains a effective and active "police station" in Vancouver to keep them in line should the need arise.

  • How is this even a debate? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Baloo Uriza ( 1582831 ) <baloo@ursamundi.org> on Wednesday January 10, 2024 @05:16PM (#64148045) Homepage Journal
    Destroy it, and stop doing research in enemy territory.

    • Look forward to being hacked by Chinese AI bots powered by Bing®

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      And hand all that talent and knowledge over to Chinese companies.

      • That ship sailed the exact moment they opened in China. Patents and copyrights from outside China are not valid or acknowledged within it.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          That isn't true. In fact recently the GPL was validated in China, possibly to a greater extent than anywhere else in the world.

    • They have broken no international laws.
      Please don't mention Uyghurs - Israel, with US support, has done much worse in Gaza.
      The South China Sea Claims? Taiwan actually makes the exact same territory claim.
      They will attack Taiwan? probably not https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
      The only reason they are cast as an enemy is because their GDP will soon pass US GDP, that's it, fear of a *potential* threat with increasing economic might, exactly as John J. Mearsheimer predicted: https://www.youtube.com/watch? [youtube.com]
      • Sure, go that route and not literally everything the CCP's done since Nixon converted them to fascism.
        • Well, to be fair Nixon didn't convert them to anything, they responded to market access by adopting production control mechanisms very similar to those of Fascism. And since they don't really seem to be collectivizing demand anymore, it may now be appropriate to call them Fascists instead of Communists.

          Though they might prefer it be called "state capitalism", which Marx intended to be an intermediate step. Not that there is a significant practical difference, Fascism and Socialism are essentially the sa

          • Fascism and Socialism are essentially the same thing.

            Not sure if you're fascist adjacent and intentionally muddying the waters, or if you're too ignorant to form a reasonable opinion. You've just called most economic powerhouse democracies "fascist".

      • China is and always has been antagonistic to the US.

        They are not our friend.

        They are an enemy that we do business with.....too much IMHO.

      • You can't say that China has not broken international law and then dismiss clear examples of their lawbreaking because you (mistakenly) think someone else broke similar laws. China is actively breaking international maritime law in the South China Sea, for which it has been tried and found guilty. Whether or not one of their neighbors asserted similar claims over the territory is irrelevant, only China has acted on those claims.

        And even if you were right about Taiwan and Israel (and you are not), how in

  • They are ready for a new one.

  • It's nice of Microso$ft to subsidize the Chinese military AI program, isn't it....
  • I'd switch the focus of the lab to doing AI research that speeds up vaccine research. Making it more of an applied field than pure research. The findings could be vetted at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Hopefully they could increase their output!

  • The company, which is based in Redmond, Wash., said it had also opened an outpost of the lab in Vancouver, British Columbia, and would move some researchers from China to the location.

    As a local resident, I can tell you that Vancouver (or Canada as a whole) is no bastion of privacy against China. They have their nose pretty far up in our business here.

  • MS should close that AI Lab (Score:4, Insightful)

    by shubus ( 1382007 ) on Wednesday January 10, 2024 @08:18PM (#64148419)
    It is n the world's interest NOT to aid in China's AI development which we know will be weaponized. The US gov't should consider sanctions on MS for not closing that lab.

  • Unfortunately, the Chinese workers are better than the American ones, and aren't constantly complaining they need a union. Maybe MS can bring them and their extended families over to the US.

Slashdot Top Deals

One good suit is worth a thousand resumes.

Close