Plus: A tool that automatically shames politicians distracted by their phones during official business
In Brief The Biden Administration has cracked down on Chinese AI companies over their links to human rights abuses against Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other Muslim minority groups in Xinjiang. These organizations will struggle to do business with America now that they’re on Uncle Sam’s Entity List [ PDF]. US companies will need special permission from the government to work with them. Don’t expect that permission to be granted. Some of these Chinese businesses specialize in machine-learning technology for surveillance, particularly DeepGlint, Kuang-Chi Group, Xinjiang Lianhai Chuangzhi Company, and Shenzhen Cobber Information Technology. DeepGlint, a facial-recognition startup, had received funding from Sequoia Capital, a top American VC firm, according to The Verge. The upstart’s software was even audited by NIST for its Face Recognition Vendor Test in 2021, and achieved top accuracy scores. Kuang-Chi Group specializes in telecoms and AI technologies for smart cities.
