{"id":1993951,"date":"2023-08-08T05:05:02","date_gmt":"2023-08-08T09:05:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mit-took-chinese-money-to-research-ai-the-university-may-also-have-helped-the-ccp-surveil-uyghurs\/"},"modified":"2023-08-08T05:07:18","modified_gmt":"2023-08-08T09:07:18","slug":"mit-took-chinese-money-to-research-ai-the-university-may-also-have-helped-the-ccp-surveil-uyghurs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mit-took-chinese-money-to-research-ai-the-university-may-also-have-helped-the-ccp-surveil-uyghurs\/","title":{"rendered":"MIT accepted funding from China for AI research and potentially aided in Uyghur surveillance."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmit-took-chinese-money-to-research-ai-the-university-may-also-have-helped-the-ccp-surveil-uyghurs%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1993951&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div>\n<blockquote>\n<h2>Prestigious university partnered with twice-sanctioned SenseTime to advance facial \u2063recognition technology<\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n<figure><figcaption>\n<p>      \u2064      Uyghur men\u200d gather to pray in the far western Xinjiang\u200d province \/ Getty Images<br \/>\n\u2063<br \/>\n    <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>The Massachusetts Institute of Technology took\u2063 funding from a\u200b twice-sanctioned Chinese company\u200d to advance\u200d aspects of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rep-taylor-greene-dems-police-reform-bill-attacks-law-enforcement\/\" title=\"Rep. Taylor Greene: Dems\u2019 police reform bill attacks law enforcement\">facial recognition technology<\/a> that the Chinese have\u200b reportedly used \u200cto track and \u2064imprison Uyghurs, a <em>Washington Free Beacon<\/em> review \u2064found.<\/p>\n<p>China&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2022\/jan\/06\/china-sensetime-facial-recognition-uyghur-surveillance-us-sanctions\">largest<\/a> facial recognition startup, SenseTime\u2014founded \u200cby an MIT graduate, Xiao&#8217;ou Tang, who now resides in\u200c mainland China\u2014donated\u200b an undisclosed\u2062 amount \u200cof money to MIT\u200c in 2018,\u2064 the university said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/news.mit.edu\/2018\/mit-sensetime-announce-effort-advance-artificial-intelligence-research-0228\">press release<\/a> at the time.<\/p>\n<p>A year later, in 2019, the \u200d <em>New York Times<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/04\/14\/technology\/china-surveillance-artificial-intelligence-racial-profiling.html\">reported<\/a> that SenseTime&#8217;s technology is part of \u2064a &#8220;vast, secret system&#8221; the Chinese use to &#8220;track and control \u200cUyghurs.&#8221; The Trump administration went on\u200c to\u200b <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/10\/07\/us\/politics\/us-to-blacklist-28-chinese-entities-over-abuses-in-xinjiang.html\">blacklist SenseTime<\/a> in the fall \u2064of 2019, after\u2062 MIT had\u200d accepted the\u2064 money, citing the company\u2019s role in\u200c the &#8220;repression, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/hunter-biden-remains-financially-tied-to-chinese-equity-firm-that-invested-in-sanctioned-facial-recognition-company-records-show\/\" title=\"Hunter Biden Remains Financially Tied To Chinese Equity Firm That Invested In Sanctioned Facial Recognition Company, Records Show\">mass arbitrary detention<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lifting-sanctions-may-help-russians-supply-spy-satellites-to-iran\/\" title=\"Lifting Sanctions May Help Russians Supply Spy Satellites to Iran\">high-technology surveillance<\/a>&#8221; of the\u2063 country\u2019s Muslim minority\u2064 in Xinjiang.<\/p>\n<p>MIT\u2064 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2019-10-09\/chinese-ai-project-is-under-review-at-mit-after-u-s-blacklists-company?in_source=embedded-checkout-banner\">said at \u2064the time<\/a> that \u2063it \u200cwould review\u2063 its relationship with SenseTime but did not return the cash.<\/p>\n<p>MIT \u200dused SenseTime\u2019s money to fund\u200c research \u200bprojects that resulted in 20 papers that focused on or mentioned &#8220;neural networks,&#8221; the <em>Free Beacon<\/em> found. Neural\u2062 networks\u2014a term of art \u200bfor\u2064 the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ibm.com\/topics\/neural-networks\">artificial intelligence method<\/a> that teaches\u2064 computers \u200dto process\u200c data like the human \u200dbrain\u2014are\u200d used in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mit-took-chinese-money-to-research-ai-the-university-may-also-have-helped-the-ccp-surveil-uyghurs\/\" title=\"MIT accepted funding from China for AI research and potentially aided in Uyghur surveillance.\">facial recognition \u2063technology<\/a>, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.codemag.com\/Article\/2205081\/Implementing-Face-Recognition-Using-Deep-Learning-and-Support-Vector-Machines#:~:text=In%20deep%20learning%2C%20a%20convolutional,used%20in%20face%20recognition%20software.\">industry\u200d experts<\/a>. Fourteen of the papers,\u2064 meanwhile, covered image data or image recognition algorithms. And one of the SenseTime-funded <a href=\"https:\/\/pubs.acs.org\/doi\/full\/10.1021\/acsphotonics.8b01526?casa_token=ABRiTOQ07uwAAAAA%3AwJiwTacuBoi0b4YYOoCpK2d6YMlgWWy-1kCLvzs0nPqrB-E8ulfj1gSUlNGw4XkSJnVd15LtLsIl6Uy3Ew\">research \u2064papers<\/a> even\u2064 featured authors associated with Zhejiang University,\u200c which <a href=\"https:\/\/unitracker.aspi.org.au\/universities\/zhejiang-university\/\">works<\/a> on classified projects for China&#8217;s military.<\/p>\n<p>While it&#8217;s unclear\u2062 exactly how SenseTime may have used the research produced by MIT, the Chinese company \u2063sent a flurry of patent applications during the same time period its American partner published research. Between 2019 \u200cand 2022, MIT released dozens of SenseTime-funded\u200d research papers on neural networks and image recognition. In that time, SenseTime <a href=\"https:\/\/patentscope.wipo.int\/search\/en\/result.jsf?_vid=P22-LKWP4K-87773\">filed<\/a> 47 patent applications with \u200dthe World International Patent Organization for facial and image recognition technology.<\/p>\n<p>SenseTime&#8217;s funding of MIT research reflects China&#8217;s longstanding effort to influence American higher education.<\/p>\n<p>Over the past decade, China has donated more to U.S. universities than any other \u2063foreign nation, according to a House Foreign Affairs Committee\u2062 <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignaffairs.house.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/CCP-Threat-of-American-Universities-V3.pdf\">report<\/a>. In some cases, those contributions come from individuals and\u2064 groups that work with the communist nation&#8217;s military. A Chinese tech \u200cbillionaire whose company helped \u200dthe People&#8217;s Liberation\u200b Army\u200c develop &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/controversial-chinese-tech-billionaire-gives-millions-to-elite-american-universities\/\" title=\"Controversial Chinese Tech Billionaire Gives Millions to Elite American Universities\">force modernization plans<\/a>,&#8221; for example, has given\u2063 MIT\u200d $5\u2063 million and sits on advisory boards for Yale and Cornell, the \u200b <em>Free Beacon<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/national-security\/controversial-chinese-tech-billionaire-gives-millions-to-elite-american-universities\/\">reported<\/a> last year.<\/p>\n<p>MIT\u200d and SenseTime <a href=\"https:\/\/news.mit.edu\/2018\/mit-sensetime-announce-effort-advance-artificial-intelligence-research-0228\">announced<\/a> an &#8220;Alliance on Artificial Intelligence&#8221; \u2064in 2018, a partnership that came \u2062with the undisclosed financial gift from SenseTime to \u2064the school.<\/p>\n<p>MIT told the <em>Free Beacon<\/em> it used the money for research projects &#8220;selected by MIT \u200cfaculty,&#8221; adding \u200cthat \u200d&#8221;MIT\u2062 does\u200c not have any sponsored research \u200bcollaborations or activities with SenseTime.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Even in the face of more restrictive \u200cBiden administration sanctions that block U.S. investment in SenseTime, \u200cMIT has held onto the cash. A spokesman for the school told the <em>Free Beacon<\/em> that \u2062the university \u200b&#8221;put \u2062on hold additional\u200c uses\u2064 of the funding not already allocated, including pausing any new\u200d calls for research proposals that might be funded \u2062by the gift \u200band not moving forward \u2063with any fellowships.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>MIT did not answer additional questions.<\/p>\n<p>SenseTime has decried\u200b the Biden administration&#8217;s sanctions, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sensetime.com\/en\/news-detail\/41164493?categoryId=1072\">saying<\/a> in 2021 that \u200bthe accusations against it are &#8220;unfounded and \u2062reflect a fundamental misperception of our company.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We regret\u200c to have been caught in the \u2062middle of geopolitical tension,&#8221; \u200bthe company&#8217;s\u2062 statement read.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MIT partnered with SenseTime, a twice-sanctioned Chinese company, to advance facial recognition technology. This collaboration raises concerns as the Chinese have allegedly utilized this technology to track and imprison Uyghur individuals in Xinjiang province. Uyghur men praying in Xinjiang \/ Getty Images.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2083,"featured_media":1993952,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[544],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1993951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-free-beacon"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1993951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2083"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1993951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1993951\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1993952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1993951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1993951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1993951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}