Google has revealed plans to open an artificial intelligence (AI) research lab in China, despite its pioneering search engine being blocked in the Communist country.
The tech giant’s AI Centre will be based in Beijing, where a team of researchers plan to fund and sponsor “conferences and workshops”, as well as work “closely with the vibrant Chinese AI research community”, it says.
Google had previously revealed it was pushing to hire AI experts in the country, says Tech Crunch, and the announcement of a dedicated facility “isn’t a sign that [it] will launch new services in China”.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Instead, the website adds, the lab “will work with AI colleagues in Google offices across the world, including New York, Toronto, London and Zurich”.
However, even though the company has 600 employees split between two offices in the country, “Google's search engine and a number of other services are banned in China,” BBC News reports.
“China has for many years censored content it sees as politically sensitive, using an increasingly sophisticated set of filters that critics have called the ‘great firewall’,” it adds.
Mark Natkin, chief of Beijing-based network firm Marbridge Consulting, told Bloomberg Google’s attempts to create new jobs and train Chinese engineers at the facility would help “build goodwill” with the country.
Beijing’s policymakers have “voiced strong support for AI research and development”, Reuters reports, allowing Google to focus its efforts on “exposing its AI products in China”.
It’s not yet known what AI technologies will be developed, but Bloomberg says the company aims to hire “top-notch researchers”.
-
Music reviews: Chance the Rapper, Cass McCombs, and Molly TuttleFeature "Star Line," "Interior Live Oak," and "So Long Little Miss Sunshine"
-
Film reviews: Eden and Honey Don't!Feature Seekers of a new utopia spiral into savagery and a queer private eye prowls a high-desert town
-
Critics' choice: Three chefs fulfilling their ambitionsFeature Kwame Onwuachi's grand second act, Travis Lett makes a comeback, and Jeff Watson's new Korean restaurant
-
Deep thoughts: AI shows its math chopsFeature Google's Gemini is the first AI system to win gold at the International Mathematical Olympiad
-
The jobs most at risk from AIThe Explainer Sales and customer services are touted as some of the key jobs that will be replaced by AI
-
Why AI means it's more important than ever to check terms and conditionsIn The Spotlight WeTransfer row over training AI models on user data shines spotlight on dangers of blindly clicking 'Accept'
-
Are AI lovers replacing humans?Talking Points A third of Gen Z singles use tech as a 'romantic companion'
-
Palantir: The all-seeing tech giantFeature Palantir's data-mining tools are used by spies and the military. Are they now being turned on Americans?
-
Grok brings to light wider AI antisemitismIn the Spotlight Google and OpenAI are among the other creators who have faced problems
-
Intellectual property: AI gains at creators' expenseFeature Two federal judges ruled that it is fair use for AI firms to use copyrighted media to train bots
-
Is AI killing the internet?Talking Point AI-powered browsers and search engines are threatening the death of the open web
