American firms are welcome to bring their artificial intelligence (AI) technology to China, President Xi Jinping told Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates on Friday, two sources familiar with the talks have said.
The two discussed the global rise of AI and Microsoft’s business development in China during their meeting in Beijing, sources added.
Gates arrived in China on Wednesday. Xi welcomed him as “an old friend” in his first meeting with a foreign entrepreneur in years.
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The comments on AI made at the meeting between Xi and Gates were not disclosed in reports of the meeting published by Chinese state media or in a Friday post by Gates reflecting on his China trip.
Xi has previously said China needs to seize opportunities to use AI to drive economic development, but has also cautioned about its risks. The country is currently weighing up a new law on the technology as well as rules for generative AI.
Xi’s meeting with Gates comes as US-China relations are at their lowest point in decades, with AI being a key flashpoint.
The US has enacted a series of export controls aimed at restricting China’s AI development, while China has unnerved the foreign business community with a crackdown on consultancies and a ban on some sales in China by US chipmaker Micron.
Microsoft is a backer of OpenAI, whose chatbot ChatGPT ignited a global AI buzz last year that has spread to China.
Chinese authorities have not blocked OpenAI and ChatGPT, but OpenAI does not allow users in some countries, including mainland China and Hong Kong, to sign on.
Microsoft has been in China for more than 30 years and has a large research centre there. Its Bing portal is the only foreign search engine accessible from within China’s so-called Great Firewall, although its search results on sensitive topics are censored.
The US tech giant has faced problems in China in recent years as the country tightened its control over the internet sector.
In 2021 it pulled the plug on LinkedIn China, replacing the social networking app with a stripped-down version focused only on jobs.
It announced in May that it would also shut that app in China, citing fierce competition and macroeconomic challenges, but said it would retain a presence in the country.
- Reuters, with additional editing by Vishakha Saxena
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