Countries such as China are using multiple means, including talent development and recruitment, investment and internal policies, to stimulate domestic research and development, promote scientific progress, and drive technological innovation. We document the role of legal, illegal, and extra-legal mechanisms used by such countries for these purposes. The research involves analysis of budgets, investment patterns, patent trends, talent recruitment, and other potential indicators using official Chinese and other country documents and other open-source, native-language resources.

Analysis

Gao Huajian and the China Talent Returnee Question

William Hannas Huey-Meei Chang Daniel Chou

| May 2024

The celebrated return to China of its overseas scientists, as evidenced in the recent case of physicist Gao Huajian, is typically cited as a loss to the United States. This report argues a contrarian view that the benefits equation is far more complicated. PRC programs that channel diaspora achievements “back”...

Analysis

Bibliometric Analysis of China’s Non-Therapeutic Brain-Computer Interface Research

William Hannas Huey-Meei Chang Rishika Chauhan Daniel Chou John O’Callaghan Max Riesenhuber Vikram Venkatram Jennifer Wang

| March 2024

China’s brain-computer interface research has two dimensions. Besides its usual applications in neuropathology, China is extending the benefits of BCI to the general population, aiming at enhanced cognition and a “merger” of natural and artificial intelligence. This report, authored in collaboration with researchers from the Department of War Studies at...

Analysis

Assessing China’s AI Workforce

Dahlia Peterson Ngor Luong Jacob Feldgoise

| November 2023

Demand for talent is one of the core elements of technological competition between the United States and China. In this issue brief, we explore demand signals in China’s domestic AI workforce in two ways: geographically and within the defense and surveillance sectors. Our exploration of job postings from Spring 2021...

U.S. Big Tech in China: Too Big to Bail

Ngor Luong Sam Bresnick Kathleen Curlee

| May 6, 2024

In their op-ed featured in The Wire China, CSET's Ngor Luong, Sam Bresnick, and Kathleen Curlee provide their expert analysis on the changing landscape for U.S. big tech companies in China.

In a Taiwan conflict, tough choices could come for Big Tech

Sam Bresnick Emelia Probasco

| April 23, 2024

In their op-ed featured in Breaking Defense, CSET's Sam Bresnick and Emelia Probasco provide their expert analysis on the involvement of US tech giants in conflicts, such as the Ukraine war, and raise important questions about their role and potential entanglements in future conflicts, particularly those involving Taiwan.

RISC-V: What it is and Why it Matters

Jacob Feldgoise

| January 22, 2024

As the U.S. government tightens its controls on China’s semiconductor ecosystem, a new dimension is increasingly worrying Congress: the open-source chip architecture known as RISC-V (pronounced “risk-five”). This blog post provides an introduction to the RISC-V architecture and an explanation of what policy-makers can do to address concerns about this...

William Hannas

Lead Analyst

Dahlia Peterson

State Department Fellow

Daniel Chou

Data Scientist

Huey-Meei Chang

Senior China S&T Specialist

Ryan Fedasiuk

Non-Resident State Department Fellow

In an article published by WIRED exploring China's advancement in BCI technology, CSET's William Hannas offered his expert insight.

William Hannas, Lead Analyst at CSET, provided expert insights in a Newsweek article discussing China's development of "Supermind," a new AI-based intelligence platform.

In a recent Nature article, CSET's Helen Toner lends her expertise to the discussion on groundbreaking developments in governmental oversight of artificial intelligence (AI) in the United States and the United Kingdom.

A recent Newsweek article featured a report from CSET, highlighting China's strong push in the field of artificial general intelligence.

According to research by CSET's William Hannas, China puts a premium on OSINT and has an estimated 100,000 analysts tasked with scouring scientific and technical developments globally, mostly in the United States.

In her coauthored report, CSET Research Analyst Dahlia Peterson offers recommendations for democratic governments and civil society to rein in the unchecked spread and use of surveillance technology.