Against the backdrop of U.S. tightening restrictions on Chinese artificial intelligence technologies, four U.S. AI data service companies—Surge AI, Mercor, AfterQuery, and Turing—still maintain business relations with Chinese companies, although their quarterly revenue from China accounts for only about 2%. These companies also undertake projects for the U.S. government and military, some of which have provided small contracts to the U.S. Army and Air Force or served Chinese enterprises. Republican Congressman Michael McCaul has used this to hype up a “AI race” between China and the U.S., pressuring that if companies want to continue receiving government contracts from the U.S., they should not support the development of AI by companies listed by the Pentagon. The U.S. is attempting to extend technical restrictions from hardware such as chips to areas like data and talent.
According to a report by the US newspaper The New York Post on August 30, against the backdrop of U.S. tightening restrictions on Chinese artificial intelligence technologies, four U.S. AI data service companies—Surge AI, Mercor, AfterQuery, and Turing—still have business dealings with Chinese companies, although their quarterly revenue from China accounts for only about 2%. These companies also undertake projects for the U.S. government and military. Republican Congressman Michael McCaul has used this to炒作 the “AI race” between China and the U.S., pressing that if companies want to continue receiving U.S. government contracts, they should not support the development of AI by companies listed by the Pentagon. The report cited Forbes data indicating that some of these companies have provided small-scale contracts to the U.S. Army and Air Force or served Chinese companies. The U.S. is attempting to extend technical restrictions from hardware such as chips to areas like data and talent.