An artificial intelligence firm announced that it will end its partnership with Chinese companies following the United States issuing security concerns.
G42, an AI firm based in the United Arab Emirates, has worked with AstraZeneca, OpenAI, Dell Technologies, and Huawei.
It has also purchased shares in ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok.
Peng Xiao, G42’s CEO, told the Financial Times, “For better or worse, as a commercial company, we are in a position where we have to make a choice. We cannot work with both sides. We can’t.”
“The impression we are getting from [the] U.S. government and U.S. partners is we need to be very cautious,” Xiao added. “In order for us to further our relationship — which we cherish — with our U.S. partners, we simply cannot do much more with [previous] Chinese partners.”
American Faith reported that U.S. intelligence officials warned that the AI firm may be giving millions of Americans’ genetic data to the Chinese government.
The CIA has allegedly found concerns within the firm, such as its “stack,” or technology infrastructure, built with assistance from China.
G42 senior executive Talal Al Kaissi admitted the company has partnered with “various international technology players from around the world” but remains in “compliance” with the United States government.
While Xiao said G42 will adjust its relationship with China, he admitted that the company never had “deep AI research relationships” with Chinese firms “because, frankly speaking, they’re not leaders in this domain.”
The national security concerns presented in AI come as one individual who previously worked for United States AI technology has been exposed to be linked to the CCP.
A report from Newsweek revealed that the Pentagon gave former California Artificial Intelligence (AI) specialist Song-Chun Zhu $30 million in federal grants.
Zhu now works for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
While directing an AI center at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Zhu created an institute near Wuhan, China.
The National Science Foundation, a federal agency that awarded millions of dollars to Zhu, told the outlet that “foreign collaborations and affiliations of Song-Chun Zhu were identified and reported to the intelligence community and law enforcement,” adding that it became aware of security risks “near the end range of this scientist’s funding.”
