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.

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Analysis

China’s Cognitive AI Research

July 2023

An expert assessment of Chinese scientific literature validates China's public claim to be working toward artificial general intelligence (AGI). At a time when other nations are contemplating safeguards on AI research, China’s push toward AGI challenges emerging global norms, underscoring the need for a serious open-source monitoring program to serve as a foundation for outreach and mitigation.

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.

Analysis

China’s Advanced AI Research

July 2022

China 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.

Analysis

China’s STI Operations

January 2021

Open 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.

Analysis

China AI-Brain Research

September 2020

Since 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 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.