<div id="readability-page-1">Chinese computer scientists and researchers have been urged to boycott a major artificial intelligence conference after its organisers barred submissions from US-sanctioned institutions, including leading Chinese tech groups such as Huawei Technologies. The move by the China Computer Federation (CCF) is the latest flashpoint in deepening US-China tensions over AI, a fast-evolving field with far-reaching economic, social and military implications. The influential professional body said on Wednesday it “strongly opposed” a decision by the Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS) to stop accepting submissions from individuals affiliated with sanctioned entities. “Openness, inclusiveness, equality and cooperation are the core values of academic exchange and fundamental principles recognised by the international academic community,” the CCF said. “NeurIPS’s ban on submissions from specific institutions and its politicisation of academic exchange violate these basic principles.” Often billed as the world’s premier AI conference, NeurIPS draws tens of thousands of leading researchers each year to present cutting-edge work. It has also become a key recruitment battleground where US and Chinese tech firms compete intensely for AI talent. At last year’s event – held across two locations for the first time, partly amid concerns that Chinese participants might face US visa hurdles – a team from Alibaba Cloud, including chief technology officer Zhou Jingren, was among four winners of the conference’s best paper award, following a similar achievement by researchers from ByteDance and Peking University a year earlier. Alibaba Cloud is the AI and cloud computing arm of Alibaba Group Holding, owner of the South China Morning Post. China has become the largest contributor to NeurIPS in recent years, according to data from European advisory firm AI World, driven by research from institutions such as Tsinghua University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Chinese tech firms including Alibaba, ByteDance and Ant Group were also major sponsors of last year’s conference. None responded to requests for comment on whether they would continue their involvement following the policy change.  The NeurIPS Foundation, based in San Diego, said the restrictions were being introduced for the first time to comply with US sanctions, which it said applied to any organisation operating under US jurisdiction. Its statement included a link to the US Office of Foreign Assets Control website showing a list of sanctioned institutions, which included the likes of Huawei, China Telecom and China Unicom. In response, the CCF warned it would remove NeurIPS from its directory of “Recommended International Academic Conferences and Journals” if the policy was not reversed. The directory carries significant weight in China’s academic and corporate sectors. A researcher at a leading Chinese AI company, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue, said it was widely used to assess job candidates and determine eligibility for funding support. “Basically, everyone in China’s computer science field refers to this directory,” the researcher said. “After this announcement, our instructors will definitely not recommend submitting to NeurIPS.” Some Chinese researchers have already signalled a boycott. Several wrote on X that they would refuse to serve as reviewers for this year’s conference, whose main event is scheduled for December in Sydney. Those include Alibaba researcher Wu Minghao and Zhipu AI researcher Wang Cunxiang. It remains unclear why NeurIPS has adopted the policy now, given that US sanctions on Chinese firms have been in place for years and other major conferences have not announced similar measures. The foundation did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Nevertheless, the foundation wrote on X on Thursday that it was “aware of the community’s concerns regarding the list of sanctions” and that it was consulting legal counsel “to fully understand the legal constraints”. In 2019, science publisher IEEE reversed a short-lived ban on Huawei researchers acting as journal reviewers after the CCF threatened a similar boycott. </div>

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<p>Chinese computer scientists are urged to boycott the NeurIPS AI conference after it barred submissions from US-sanctioned institutions, including Huawei. The China Computer Federation (CCF) criticized this decision, claiming it undermines core academic values. NeurIPS, a leading AI conference, has become a focal point in US-China tensions over AI. The CCF warned it would remove NeurIPS from its directory of recommended conferences if the policy isn't reversed. Some Chinese researchers have already indicated a boycott, raising concerns about the implications for academic collaboration in the field.</p>

AI rift widens as China urges boycott of top US conference over sanctions ban