又见保护主义：美国可能限制中国投资人工智能

一些现任和前任美国官员向路透社表示，美国准备加大对中国投资硅谷企业的审查力度，以更好地保护美方认为事关国家安全的敏感技术。

中国对人工智能和机器学习等领域的兴趣格外受关注。近些年这些行业吸引的中国资本日渐增多。美国担心中国可能利用尖端技术增强军事实力，甚至可能用来暗中推进战略性产业。

美国政府正考虑扩大美国外资投资委员会（CFIUS）的权力。该委员会隶属政府机关，主要目标是审查外资收购美国企业的交易以保障国家安全。

路透社记者看到，美国国防部在一份未公开的报告中警告称中国在规避美国的监督，通过目前不会引起CFIUS审查的交易获取敏感技术。交易方式包括成立合资企业、持有企业少数股权，投资早期的初创公司等。

一位不方便公开评论的特朗普政府官员称：“鉴于中国（在科技领域）掠夺行动频频，为保证美国经济长远的健康和安全，我们考虑调整CFIUS。”

本周二，美国国防部长吉姆•马蒂斯也加入了争论，称CFIUS已“过时”，还在参议院的一场听证会上表示：“为了应对当前的形势，需要与时俱进。”

CFIUS由美国财政部领导，共有九名常务委员，其中包括国防部、司法部、国土安全部、商务部、国务院和能源部的代表。CFIUS的委员神秘低调，即便对某笔交易做出判定也不会发表评论。

前总统奥巴马执政时期，CFIUS叫停了一系列中资对高端芯片商发起的收购。

美国参议院共和党二号人物约翰•康宁的一位助理表示，康宁参议员正在草拟法案，将扩大CFIUS的权力，可以阻止外资的一些技术投资。

这位拒绝透露身份的助理说：“人工智能是中国争取的众多顶尖技术之一，而且有军事应用的潜力。”

该助理称：“这些技术很新，我们的出口控制系统还没覆盖到，所以能透过现有保护机制的漏洞外流。”

康宁的法案将要求，一旦收购方来自经确认可能威胁美国国家安全的国家，CFIUS就应加强交易审查。上述助理透露，CFIUS将保有一份威胁国家名单，但没有说明谁来拟定名单。

该助理还说，康宁的法案不会明确指出哪些技术将面临CFIUS的审查，但将确定一种机制，由国防部联合商务部、能源部和科技界进行甄别。

美国智库战略与国际研究中心的军事技术专家詹姆斯•刘易斯认为，美国政府正努力跟上科技发展的脚步。

刘易斯说：“中国人找到一种新办法，在涉及技术转让的境外投资方面避开防护。然后他们利用新技术在经济和军事方面超过我们。”

“我觉得事关重大。”

但一些行业专家警告，美国加强监管可能没法制止技术转让，还可能招致中国的报复，对美国自身经济会造成负面影响。

据研究机构荣鼎咨询估算，2016年，美国成为中国最大对外直接投资目的国，已完成的收购和初创公司投资规模合计456亿美元。荣鼎咨询称，2017年1月到5月，中国的投资合计220亿美元，较上年同期增长一倍。

荣鼎咨询的经济学家希罗•哈内曼预计，如果美国的法案过于激进，“科技业将会出现大幅衰退。”

人工智能让无人机作战如虎添翼

就在美国担忧中国向先进技术领域渗透时，美国军方正考虑将人工智能与机器学习元素加入无人机项目。

该项目代号Project Maven，旨在减轻军事分析员的负担，协助打击极端恐怖组织“伊斯兰国”。

目前军事分析员要长时间盯着大屏幕，监看无人机发回的视频，搜寻伊拉克和阿富汗等地的叛乱分子。

负责作战支援的美国国防情报主管、空军中将约翰.N.T.“杰克”•沙纳汉表示，国防部在开发一些算法，让计算机自动筛选材料，出现重要线索时及时提醒分析员。

“很多时候无人机只是飞来飞去，没什么值得关注的。”沙纳汉向路透表示。

沙纳汉说，手下团队在努力教系统识别卡车和建筑等物体，辨认人类，最终能识别出异于日常的变化，推动调查进展。

“我们会从小处着手，先做出一些成功的案例。”他说。

一位美国国防部官员表示，美国政府申请2018年为这一项目投入约3000万美元。

硅谷企业正在以商业化为目标开发类似的图像识别技术，但可能被美国的对手用于军事目的。

沙纳汉表示，中国企业投资此类技术一点也不令人意外。

“他们目标很明确。”他说。

研究机构CB Insights称，自2012年年初以来，已发现29位中国内地的投资者投资美国的人工智能公司。

对美国构成的风险已经不仅限于技术转让。

美国国防部报告写道：“如果中国人投资一家开发先进技术的初创公司，美国公司就会面临机会成本，因为可能会失去（与美国国防部）合作的机会。”

中国投资

中国并没有隐藏成为人工智能领域大国的雄心，海外收购是手段之一。

今年3月，中国的搜索引擎巨头百度与国家发改委联合成立了一家人工智能实验室。举个最近的例子，百度4月同意收购美国计算机视觉公司xPerception。xPerception制造的视觉感知软硬件主要应用在机器人和虚拟现实领域。

美国智库New America Foundation的机器人战争专家皮特•辛格指出：“中国正在人工智能领域大举投资。”

上述美国国防部报告的初稿提出，美国政府监管存在局限的因素之一是，许多中资并非全面收购，没达到CFIUS审查的标准。出口管制的初衷也不是控制新技术。

报告建议国防部拟定一份重要技术的名录，限制中国投资相应技术。报告也提议大力开展反间谍行动。

报告还暗示，需要采取措施的远不只军事领域，还应修改移民政策，允许赴美攻读研究生的中国学生完成学业后留在美国，而不是任由他们带着重要技术归国。

投资机构Menlo Ventures的董事总经理温吉•加尼桑表示赞成，认为美国应该留住最优秀最聪明的人才。

加尼桑说：“我们最应该做的就是一毕业就给他们绿卡，让他们留下来开发技术，而不是回国和我们竞争。”（财富中文网）

译者：Pessy

审稿：夏林

The United States appears poised to heighten scrutiny of Chinese investment in Silicon Valley to better shield sensitive technologies seen as vital to U.S. national security, current and former U.S. officials tell Reuters.

Of particular concern is China's interest in fields such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, which have increasingly attracted Chinese capital in recent years. The worry is that cutting-edge technologies developed in the United States could be used by China to bolster its military capabilities and perhaps even push it ahead in strategic industries.

The U.S. government is now looking to strengthen the role of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), the inter-agency committee that reviews foreign acquisitions of U.S. companies on national security grounds.

An unreleased Pentagon report, viewed by Reuters, warns that China is skirting U.S. oversight and gaining access to sensitive technology through transactions that currently don't trigger CFIUS review. Such deals would include joint ventures, minority stakes and early-stage investments in start-ups.

"We're examining CFIUS to look at the long-term health and security of the U.S. economy, given China's predatory practices" in technology, said a Trump administration official, who was not authorized to speak publicly.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis weighed into the debate on Tuesday, calling CFIUS "outdated" and telling a Senate hearing: "It needs to be updated to deal with today's situation."

CFIUS is headed by the Treasury Department and includes nine permanent members including representatives from the departments of Defense, Justice, Homeland Security, Commerce, State and Energy. The CFIUS panel is so secretive it normally does not comment after it makes a decision on a deal.

Under former President Barack Obama, CFIUS stopped a series of attempted Chinese acquisitions of high-end chip makers.

Senator John Cornyn, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, is now drafting legislation that would give CFIUS far more power to block some technology investments, a Cornyn aide said.

"Artificial intelligence is one of many leading-edge technologies that China seeks and that has potential military applications," said the Cornyn aide, who declined to be identified.

"These technologies are so new that our export control system has not yet figured out how to cover them, which is part of the reason they are slipping through the gaps in the existing safeguards," the aide said.

The legislation would require CFIUS to heighten scrutiny of buyers hailing from nations identified as potential threats to national security. CFIUS would maintain the list, the aide said, without specifying who would create it.

Cornyn's legislation would not single out specific technologies that would be subject to CFIUS scrutiny. But it would provide a mechanism for the Pentagon to lead that identification effort, with input from the U.S. technology sector, the Commerce Department, and the Energy Department, the aide said.

James Lewis, an expert on military technology at the Center for Security and International Studies, said the U.S. government is playing catch-up.

"The Chinese have found a way around our protections, our safeguards, on technology transfer in foreign investment. And they're using it to pull ahead of us, both economically and militarily," Lewis said.

"I think that's a big deal."

But some industry experts warn that stronger U.S. regulations may not succeed in halting technology transfer and might trigger retaliation by China, with economic repercussions for the United States.

China made the United States the top destination for its foreign direct investment in 2016, with $45.6 billion in completed acquisitions and greenfield investments, according to the Rhodium Group, a research firm. Investment from January to May 2017 totaled $22 billion, which represented a 100% increase against the same period last year, it said.

"There will be a significant pushback from the technology industry" if legislation is overly aggressive, Rhodium Group economist Thilo Hanemann said.

AI's Role in Drone Warfare

Concerns about Chinese inroads into advanced technology come as the U.S. military looks to incorporate elements of artificial intelligence and machine learning into its drone program.

Project Maven, as the effort is known, aims to provide some relief to military analysts who are part of the war against Islamic State.

These analysts currently spend long hours staring at big screens reviewing video feeds from drones as part of the hunt for insurgents in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Pentagon is trying to develop algorithms that would sort through the material and alert analysts to important finds, according to Air Force Lieutenant General John N.T. "Jack" Shanahan, director for defense intelligence for warfighting support.

"A lot of times these things are flying around(and)... there's nothing in the scene that's of interest," he told Reuters.

Shanahan said his team is currently trying to teach the system to recognize objects such as trucks and buildings, identify people and, eventually, detect changes in patterns of daily life that could signal significant developments.

"We'll start small, show some wins," he said.

A Pentagon official said the U.S. government is requesting to spend around $30 million on the effort in 2018.

Similar image recognition technology is being developed commercially by firms in Silicon Valley, which could be adapted by adversaries for military reasons.

Shanahan said he' not surprised that Chinese firms are making investments there.

"They know what they're targeting," he said.

Research firm CB Insights says it has tracked 29 investors from mainland China investing in U.S. artificial intelligence companies since the start of 2012.

The risks extend beyond technology transfer.

"When the Chinese make an investment in an early stage company developing advanced technology, there is an opportunity cost to the U.S. since that company is potentially off-limits for purposes of working with (the Department of Defense)," the report said.

Chinese Investment

China has made no secret of its ambition to become a major player in artificial intelligence, including through foreign acquisitions.

(bidu, -0.66%) launched an AI lab in March with China's state planner, the National Development and Reform Commission. In just one recent example, Baidu agreed in April to acquire U.S. computer vision firm xPerception, which makes vision perception software and hardware with applications in robotics and virtual reality.

"China is investing massively in this space," said Peter Singer, an expert on robotic warfare at the New America Foundation.

The draft Pentagon report cautioned that one of the factors hindering U.S. government regulation is that many Chinese investments fall short of outright acquisitions that can trigger a CFIUS review. Export controls were not designed to govern early-stage technology.

It recommended that the Pentagon develop a critical technologies list and restrict Chinese investments on that list. It also proposed enhancing counterintelligence efforts.

The report also signaled the need for measures that fall beyond the scope of the U.S. military. Those include altering immigration policy to allow Chinese graduate students the ability to stay in the United States after completing their studies, instead of taking their know-how back to China.

Venky Ganesan, managing director at Menlo Futures, concurs about the need to keep the best and brightest in the United States.

"The single biggest thing we can do is staple a green card to their diploma so that they stay here and build the technologies here—not go back to their countries and compete against us," Ganesan said.