A Daily Caller News Foundation investigation has found that the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) talent recruitment program has hired former Microsoft researchers, including some who now work in China's artificial intelligence (AI) industry.
The “Thousand People Development Program” is maximum China's talent recruitment program aims to poach U.S.-educated scientists and engineers for the Chinese Communist Party's benefit. U.S. National Security Agency have Ringed There is growing concern that the program is being used to steal intellectual property and technology to advance China's military and economic goals.
Through a review of Chinese-language news reports, DCNF was able to identify six former Microsoft researchers who were recruited through the Chinese Communist Party's Thousand Talents Plan and who now work for China-based companies and universities, with five of the six now working in China's AI industrial park, according to DCNF's investigation.
Microsoft did not respond to DCNF's request for comment.
China is racing to catch up with the United States in a race to create increasingly powerful AI systems that can be used for both commercial and military purposes. according to China is still more than a year behind the United States in AI development despite pressure from the Chinese Communist Party for companies to catch up, and is leveraging available American technology to close the gap, according to the New York Times.
More than 10,000 scientists were recruited as part of the program, said former senior CIA intelligence officer William Hannas. Said The New York Times.
“This isn't just any old recruiting program to hire and train engineers like we have in the U.S.,” Jeffrey Cain, an author and journalist who has spent a decade researching Microsoft in China, told DCNF. “This is a Communist Party-run project to enable China to gain technological superiority over the Western liberal democracies of the world.”
By partnering with OpenAI to build AI into existing products like search engines and word processors, Microsoft is positioning itself as an industry leader in the race to build increasingly scalable and useful AI-powered products. according to To the Wall Street Journal.
“if [China] lead[s] “Controlling the world with AI is a nightmare scenario for the Chinese,” Conor Healy, director of government studies at security and surveillance industry research group IPVM, told DCNF. “Just ask the 10 million Uighurs living in Xinjiang's open-air prisons automated with surveillance technology.”
“Averting one's eyes from reality”
Microsoft I boasted. A 2016 news release announced that 20 graduates from Microsoft Research Asia, the company's Asian research arm, had been selected as members of the Thousand Talents Plan. Through Chinese-language news reports, DCNF identified six prominent former Microsoft researchers who participated in the CCP's Thousand Talents Plan while working for China-based companies and universities. (Related article: San Francisco Mayor London Breed dines with Chinese operatives, receives panda plush toy)
For example, computer scientist Zhang Zheng worked at Microsoft Research Asia from 2001 to 2014, eventually becoming its vice president. Zhang is also known as an AI expert. according to On the Chinese news site ScienceNet. 2016, Chinese news site Cai Xin Zheng was recognized as an “expert” on the National Thousand Talents Plan.
Zheng Appointed In 2018, he became director of the Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Research Institute of Amazon Web Services, and is currently Listed Zheng, a professor of computer science at New York University Shanghai, did not respond to DCNF's request for comment.
In another case, Li Shipeng worked From 1999 to 2015, he worked at Microsoft as a “Research Area Manager/Chief Researcher” and later became a vice president at iFlytek, a speech recognition technology company. Authorized In 2019, iFlytek was sued over its involvement in the repression of Uighur Muslims in China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.
China's Ministry of Science and Technology named iFlytek, along with three other companies, as one of China's leading AI companies in 2017, the South China Morning Post reported. report.
Seapen is presented as an “expert” on the Thousand Talents Plan. biography It was written for the 2018 China Computer Federation Forum and translated by DCNF. The biography states that Shipeng holds 196 U.S. patents. Shipeng is currently director of the Shenzhen Institute of Social Artificial Intelligence and Robotics in China. The institute did not respond to DCNF's request for comment. Shipeng could not be reached for comment.
Yaqing Chang worked at Microsoft from 1999 to 2014. Founder He served as chairman of Microsoft's Asia Pacific research and development group from 2006, and later served as president of tech company Baidu from 2014 to 2019. Zhang was recruited under the Chinese giant's Thousand Talents Plan while at the company. news outlet This was reported by the China News Agency as a great success.
Zhang Serve Zhang, director of the AI Industry Research Institute at China's Tsinghua University, did not respond to requests for comment.
Zhang's former company, Baidu, pushed Qi Lu, former COO of Baidu, dreamed of becoming a top AI candidate when he worked at Baidu. worked He worked at the company from January 2017 to June 2018 and encouraged the company's AI efforts, Wired reports. report.L Before Worked at Microsoft from 2009 to 2016.
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Wen Jilong, a former Microsoft Research Asia employee, later became chairman of EllensData, a technology company specializing in AI development. according to According to the company's website, Gillon and the other founding team members are experts in the Thousand Talents Program and note that Gillon has experience working on AI at Microsoft. The website also notes that Gillon holds 50 U.S. patents.
Jilong Serve Jilong, a professor and dean of the Gaoling School of Artificial Intelligence at Renmin University of China, did not respond to requests for comment.
Microsoft Research Asia employed Zhang Hongjiang from 1999 to 2011 before he moved to Kingsoft, a Chinese software and Internet services company. according to According to a Carlyle Group press release from 2018, Hongjian joined the investment firm as a senior adviser that year. Prior to joining Microsoft, Zhang was a research manager at HP Labs in Palo Alto, California, according to the Carlyle release.
Hongjian was recruited into the Thousand Talents program in 2012, shortly after leaving Microsoft. according to According to Chinese industry news site Brandcn, Hongjiang is currently Listed Hongjiang is a distinguished visiting professor at China's Tsinghua University, where he also serves as dean of the university's Beijing Institute of Artificial Intelligence. He did not respond to DCNF's request for comment.
Chen Benfeng was selected as a member of the 11th batch of the Thousand Talents Program in 2015. according to He wrote an article for the Chinese news site CNICN. Benfeng used to work on Microsoft's browser team at its US headquarters. according to To Sing Tao Daily.
Benfen Established Benfeng joined cybersecurity company Clouddeep Technology in 2013 and is reportedly still working there. Clouddeep did not respond to a request for comment, and Benfeng could not be reached for comment.
“Microsoft appears to have a vested interest in actively preventing and monitoring this, but they're not the only American company in the dark,” Healy told DCNF.
“Too close to foreign enemies”
Microsoft has deep political ties to the Biden administration, with Microsoft President Brad Smith having visited President Joe Biden's White House at least 30 times as of February 2024. Smith's visit comes at a time when Microsoft is trying to shape the Biden administration's AI policy and when the company's executives are With shell Outside He spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on the president's reelection campaign. according to Federal Election Commission data.
The technology giant and its subsidiaries Millions Microsoft lobbied the federal government in 2022 to keep the U.S. government as a big buyer of productivity software. Microsoft lobbied on 12 different bills that seek to regulate AI in 2023 — more bills than Google, Meta, or Amazon. according to Reveal the secret.
In July 2023, Microsoft pledged to ensure AI research is “safe, secure and trustworthy.” according to to the company's blog post.
“The fact that the Thousand Talents program is recruiting Microsoft researchers is deeply troubling because U.S. law enforcement and counterintelligence agencies have expressed concerns that the Thousand Talents program is being used to steal intellectual property and spy on Americans,” Cain told DCNF.
“This is what happens when companies get too close to a foreign adversary,” Cain said. “Microsoft has planted a trove of intellectual property and technical trade secrets with them that could be used against Americans.”
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