UK accuses China of using academics to spy on AI and other tech research

Britain’s MI5 spy agency issued an unprecedented alert on Wednesday to warn that a Chinese organisation was involved in funding academic research into topics such as AI on behalf of Beijing’s state security service.

In its “Espionage Alert”, MI5 said more than 100 UK-based academics had contributed to projects funded by the China General Technology Research Institute (CGTRI), which had “very strong ties” to ‌the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS), Beijing’s civilian intelligence service.

“MI5 has identified that the primary purpose of CGTRI is to fund academic research that directly improves MSS technical capability for espionage,” the alert said.

“UK academics have contributed to CGTRI-funded projects on topics including artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity, covert communications systems and steganography. This activity supports MSS espionage, which poses a threat to UK national security.”