politics
A copy of a letter sent to the Department of Energy by Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Barrasso on Monday calls on President Biden’s Department of Energy to end its artificial intelligence research collaboration with Chinese government officials.
Mr. Barrasso, 71, said the department has no ties to people or entities with ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), especially given that the Chinese government is exploiting available U.S. research in its “global AI race.” He accused Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm of engaging in a “reckless and foolish” move.
“The DOE must implement a robust vetting process for those who wish to access and work with the AI-based models created by the DOE,” Barrasso said in the letter. “It is important that people friendly to the Chinese Communist Party do not have access.”
Barrasso said there are “benefits for cooperation” with Chinese research institutions, given the Chinese government’s efforts to prioritize basic research toward military needs and decisions to limit information leaks. He cited a March 21 report from the National Science Foundation that questioned the country’s. “
Earlier this month, a Chinese national was indicted by the federal government on charges that he stole confidential files related to Google’s artificial intelligence technology while working as a software engineer at Google.
FBI Director Christopher Wray said the charges are “the latest example of the extent to which affiliates of companies based in the People’s Republic of China seek to steal American innovation” and that it is “an economic and national security threat.” “This could have a devastating impact on insurance coverage,” he said.
In its fiscal year 2025 budget request, the Energy Department’s Office of Inspector General also drew attention to a lack of funding for oversight of the agency’s “high-risk areas,” including intellectual property theft and “expanding artificial intelligence programs.” .
The Wyoming senator criticized other U.S. taxpayer-funded efforts with China on the climate and called Granholm “on the state of counterintelligence within the Department of Energy and its national laboratories.” He called for attention to “grave concerns” regarding
Since October, at least four Department of Energy meetings on climate change have been reported exclusively in Chinese media, including one with a known member of the United Front Work Department, the Chinese Communist Party’s main external influence arm. It was a meeting.
Mr. Barrasso said he had not yet received a response from Mr. Granholm to a March 4 letter asking about the meeting, and Department of Energy officials said the meeting would “strengthen the national security of the United States.” He said he was making “outlandish claims.”
He also wrote in the letter that he was “particularly troubled by the sudden transfer of DOE’s Director of Intelligence and Counterintelligence,” following his Nov. 21 investigation into the circumstances leading up to the Stephen Black incident. , added that there has been no response from the ministry yet. Removal from role.
“DOE’s failure to provide adequate responses to the questions in the November 21 letter has significantly delayed our efforts to meet our information gathering and oversight obligations,” he said. “This is completely unacceptable.”
Barrasso told Granholm to clarify by April 8 the department’s strategy for the challenges posed by AI competition with China and other security risks posed by ongoing research collaborations. I asked.
The newspaper has contacted the Department of Energy for comment.
