Microsoft has been collaborating with researchers linked to a Chinese military-backed university on artificial intelligence, elevating concerns that US firms are contributing to China's high-tech surveillance and censorship apparatus. Over the past year, researchers at Microsoft Research Asia in Beijing have co-authored at least three papers with scholars affiliated with China's National University of Defence Technology (NUDT), which is overseen by the Central Military Commission. But experts have also stressed that, in the case of NUDT, Microsoft's co-published work is open and publicly accessible. And while such concerns are certainly valid, it may be difficult for AI researchers to avoid China, she told AFP. 'It's a field where Chinese researchers have made quite a lot of advancements, and they are generating data which is the raw material for this industry - so how are you going to avoid that?'

Source: Daily Mail April 12, 2019 15:45 UTC