According to Wall Street Journal research published Friday, China now tells its AI research leads and business owners not to travel to America because of security threats.
Chinese security officials worry that taking AI experts abroad risks revealing national technology secrets. Government officials are also worried that executives could face detention and become trade negotiation leverage, just as US-China talks happened while the former president was in office. The White House and the State Council Information Office of China did not provide any remarks about this recent news.
Officials block corporate leaders from visiting AI and robotics industries when they must travel to the United States or its partner nations. People traveling out of the country need to announce their departure and inform authorities about whom they met after they return. Liang Wenfeng turned down his AI summit invitation in Paris because of DeepSeek orders while another big Chinese AI startup founder stopped a US visit last year based on Chinese government direction.
The government bars people from traveling abroad due to escalating US and China AI industry competition globally. DeepSeek became the first Chinese AI startup to compete with OpenAI and Google but offer their models at much lower prices. This year President Xi Jinping had an extraordinary meeting with senior tech executives in China he instructed them to display their skills and prove China’s market leadership.
