Huey-Meei Chang is a Senior China S&T Specialist at Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET). She earned a B.S. in mathematical statistics from National Taipei University and began her career in Taiwan’s Academia Sinica, Institute of Biomedical Sciences as a data analyst. She later emigrated to the United States, where she taught Chinese language document analysis at U.S. Government agencies for 12 years prior to joining CSET in 2019. Huey is co-editor of Chinese Power and Artificial Intelligence: Perspectives and Challenges (Routledge, 2023), a co-author of China’s Quest for Foreign Technology (Routledge, 2021), and author of multiple papers on Chinese technology transfer and artificial intelligence. Her recent work focuses on China’s brain-inspired and advanced AI.
In late 2020, China established the Beijing Institute for General Artificial Intelligence, a state-backed institution dedicated to building software that emulates or surpasses human cognition in many or all of its aspects. Open source materials now available provide insight into BIGAI’s goals, scope, organization, methodology, and staffing. The project formalizes a trend evident in Chinese AI development toward broadly capable (general) AI.
China’s Advanced AI Research
July 2022China is following a national strategy to lead the world in artificial intelligence by 2030, including by pursuing “general AI” that can act autonomously in novel circumstances. Open-source research identifies 30 Chinese institutions engaged in one or more of this project‘s aspects, including machine learning, brain-inspired AI, and brain-computer interfaces. This report previews a CSET pilot program that will track China’s progress and provide timely alerts.
The transfer of national security relevant technology—to peer competitors especially—is a well-documented problem and must be balanced with the benefits of free exchange. The following propositions covering six facets of the transfer issue reflect CSET’s current recommendations on the matter.
China’s STI Operations
January 2021Open source intelligence (OSINT) and science and technology intelligence (STI) are realized differently in the United States and China, China putting greater value on both. In the United States’ understanding, OSINT “enables” classified reporting, while in China it is the intelligence of first resort. This contrast extends to STI which has a lower priority in the U.S. system, whereas China and its top leaders personally lavish great attention on STI and rely on it for national decisions. Establishing a “National S&T Analysis Center” within the U.S. government could help to address these challenges.
China AI-Brain Research
September 2020Since 2016, China has engaged in a nationwide effort to "merge" AI and neuroscience research as a major part of its next-generation AI development program. This report explores China’s AI-brain program — identifying key players and organizations and recommending the creation of an open source S&T monitoring capability within the U.S. government.
China’s Access to Foreign AI Technology
September 2019China is broadening its deeply rooted technology transfer practices to include artificial intelligence. As these efforts bear fruit, we discuss how the United States can and should respond.