Top US universities took funds from Chinese firm tied to Xinjiang security firm

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is one of US varsities to receive funding from Chinese tech firms.

Reuters found no evidence that any of the universities were directly involved in creating technology for iFlytek, or that their work was intended for use in Xinjiang, where Uighurs, a Muslim minority group, are kept under tight surveillance, including in “re-education camps.” The company added that the research at MIT is “based on the common understanding of using artificial intelligence to build a beautiful world” and that iFlytek was a “socially responsible company.”

Randall Davis, one of the MIT researchers, said iFlytek had not interfered with his healthcare-focused research, which relates to using AI-powered analysis to help diagnose cognitive decline. Joshua Tenenbaum, a professor of brain and cognitive sciences who is also conducting research at MIT as part of the partnership with iFlytek, did not respond to requests for comment.In November 2017, China’s Ministry of Science and Technology named iFlytek, founded in 1999, a national champion in voice-related AI.

The Xinjiang government did not respond to a request for comment about either of the documents. The Xinjiang prison bureau also did not reply to a request for comment and referred the request to the Xinjiang propaganda department. The propaganda department did not respond to a request for comment. “Suspected criminals or people suspected of having broken the law must have their voiceprints collected when they enter our case-processing area,” he said by phone.

In October 2015, York University in Toronto, Canada, announced that iFlytek had given the university’s Lassonde School of Engineering US$1.5 million to create a neural computing and machine learning laboratory and to endow a professorship.

Source: News Formal (newsformal.com)

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