A new report warns that prominent Western universities, including Canadian institutions, have collaborated with Chinese artificial-intelligence labs on research that could advance Beijing’s mass-surveillance apparatus and other tools tied to human rights abuses.
The Dec. 8 report, authored by the New York-based business intelligence firm Strategy Risks in partnership with the non-profit Human Rights Foundation, outlines how leading Western institutions in countries such as the United States, Canada, and others in Europe have collaborated with Chinese AI labs that are part of, or closely connected to, Beijing’s surveillance and security apparatus.
It warns that these partnerships carry direct human rights implications, as research presented as benign has the potential to be misused to facilitate Beijing’s surveillance and coercion against dissidents, ethnic minorities, and rights advocates. It also raises concerns about AI research flowing freely to China’s state security agencies under the national intelligence law, which requires all individuals and organizations in China to provide data for intelligence work when requested….