Two House committee chairs have sent a public letter to the White House asking it to consider a deal between AI R&D organization G42 and Microsoft.
Memory [PDF] National Security Adviser Jack Sullivan was written by Reps. Michael McCaul (R-TX) and John Molinar (R-MI), who chair the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the House Committee on Strategic Competition with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), respectively. Head is .
Both Republicans have warned that the Microsoft deal has increased the risk of advanced US AI technology reaching China via the G42.
“This deal could be the most fruitful investment by an American technology firm in the Middle East in decades,” the letter reads. “If this deal goes any further, we have to keep a clear eye on the risks.”
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In April, Microsoft announced it would pour $1.5 billion into United Arab Emirates-based G42. Representatives of both houses pointed out that UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan visited Beijing to deepen his country's ties with the Middle East, particularly in relation to AI.
The G42 found itself under the microscope for its relationship with China less than a year ago, after it emerged that US intelligence feared China and the G42 were a little too friendly. House representatives investigating the CCP also have their eyes on the G42, writing a letter to US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo in January expressing concern about the Middle East operation.
Even the UAE's AI minister has admitted that fears of China getting its hands on US tech have not gone away, calling such fears “valid for any country that has an adversary.” “
Both G42 and Microsoft have taken steps to convince US officials that all is well with their machine learning partnership, and G42 says it has cut ties with China. Microsoft president Brad Smith said the G42 won't have unfettered access to AI tech, saying the processors and model customization tools used by the UAE lab are located in a “vault within a vault”. will
These measures did not convince McCaul, and clearly he remained unconvinced that the risk was acceptably low. Neither he nor Molinar is clearly asking the Biden administration to torpedo the deal, though. Instead, the letter “requests an investigation of these safeguards to protect US-origin goods and technology and to protect other areas of ongoing national security concern.”
Register Microsoft was asked for comment on the letter, and Redmond said it was “working closely with the NSC and the Commerce Department, and US national security remains a top priority.” We also asked G42 to comment. ®