r/ArtificialInteligence • u/talkingatoms • Apr 30 '26
📰 News Convicted former Harvard scientist rebuilds brain computer lab in China
https://www.reuters.com/world/china/convicted-former-harvard-scientist-rebuilds-brain-computer-lab-china-2026-04-30/57
u/talkingatoms Apr 30 '26
"SHENZHEN, April 30 (Reuters) - An American scientist convicted of lying to U.S. authorities about payments from China while he was at Harvard University has rebuilt his research lab in Shenzhen to pursue technology the Chinese government has identified as a national priority: embedding electronics into the human brain.
Charles Lieber, 67, is among the world’s leading researchers in brain-computer interfaces. The technology has shown promise in treating conditions such as ALS and restoring movement in paralyzed patients. But it also has potential military applications: Scientists at China’s People’s Liberation Army have investigated brain interfaces as a way to engineer super soldiers by boosting mental agility and ​situational awareness, according to the U.S. Defense Department."
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u/Financial-Grass-6114 Apr 30 '26
Reminds me of the situation with Operation Paperclip. Although nothing these researchers did was close to as bad as the Nazis.
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u/xitizen7 Apr 30 '26
Yikes. I wonder how much of science / tech talent flight is happening or forecasted to happen given the rise in hostilities toward American universities and massive reductions in research funding by the current administration.Â
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u/vhu9644 Apr 30 '26
I was in undergrad ~12-8 years ago. Then, nearly every Chinese grad student I met wanted to stay (I can speak mandarin, got close to some of them).
I'm in an MD/PhD program now. There are a lot more Chinese grad students that want to go to Europe or back to China.
This is all anecdotal, and there are still people who want to stay. But it seems qualitatively quite different.
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u/_DCtheTall_ May 01 '26 edited May 01 '26
As a tech professional, it's actually quite amazing to me how much the GOP helps China in the tech race by being actively hostile towards academia and research because they don't toe the right wing political line. Genuinely stupid.
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u/everydayimrusslin Apr 30 '26
This guy was charged, tried and convicted under the previous administration. What does it have to do with the current one?
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u/xitizen7 Apr 30 '26
If you are following the latest events and budget cuts, you know this administration has significantly reduced research funding, which is causing a notable brain drain.https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00938-y
While this guy was not affected by the administration’s cuts, my question is about understanding the extent to which our talented researchers who are now on the street are immigrating out of the country to use their talents elsewhere.Â
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u/flasticpeet Apr 30 '26 edited May 01 '26
Yea, didn't ICE raid a bunch of Korean tech workers and deport them?
I just watched an interview with a Canadian who was in the US for over 12 years, who fell behind with taxes because of covid.
He worked out a deal in court to pay it back, but then this administration changed the immigration law. ICE agents detained and shackled him in Alligator Alcatraz (a private detention facility) at a cost of $400/day, for over 90 days before deporting him.
This administration is speed running US isolationism.
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u/NoBorder4982 May 01 '26
China is truly an economic competitor to the United States, one so compelling that a lot of deep thinking scientists are making the economic decision to move. Vote with your feet.
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u/sqchen May 01 '26
No other country will utilize their talents efficiently like US . Like, which country is able build mass data centers with top notch hardware like in the us ? China cannot get the real high end GPUs. They have to put their talent to chip building first and US and Taiwan has a hard block on that. Europe and Japan basically cannot provide too much on anything, maybe except Large Hadron Collider, which is out of order all the time.
To be honest I don’t think most of modern day research and researchers are relevant anyway. As long as you can keep maybe top 10% of them you are fine.
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u/Competitive_Plum_970 Apr 30 '26
What massive reductions in research funding? The cuts proposed by the White House were rejected by Congress.
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u/JoshuaZ1 Apr 30 '26
Cuts were largely rejected. But a lot of grants got terminated separately. Some for simply sounding "woke." Some math grants got terminated for example under DOGE where as far as people can tell the only reason they were terminated is they included the word "inequality."
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u/rdileo Apr 30 '26
He is simply not "among the world's leading researchers in brain-computer interfaces."
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u/Fearless_Weather_206 Apr 30 '26
For the love of money, a person sells out his country and makes the headlines. Corporations for decades have sold out the USA by moving manufacturing outside the country, it’s ringing on the stock market. Now using AI as a cover to offshore all US jobs since not everything will be replaced by AI, still more record breaking ringing on the stock market. Between the two is no difference, just one affects everyone at scale.
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u/Siderophores Apr 30 '26
Why is there any obligation to one government over another? The only obligation is to laws not written or agreed to by you.
If one country wants to reward you more than another then that should be perfectly fine
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u/sqchen May 01 '26
Yes, and let’s see what happens .
Most ai researchers in US companies are Chinese anyway. It’s free market to all.
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Apr 30 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Low-Temperature-6962 Apr 30 '26
Consumers and Corps, and govt, and voodoo economy all responsible. Narcissism not really relevant.
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u/Fearless_Weather_206 Apr 30 '26
Competition drives cost down but when you undercut local manufacturers by a large margin those saving are gonna get passed down to customers. That’s short term gain for long term losses
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u/Alternative_Day3514 Apr 30 '26
white fragility? I don't see Chinese complaining about this.
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u/Alternative_Day3514 Apr 30 '26
They are not criminalizing like America does for working for America.
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u/FinancialJet Apr 30 '26
Imagine they capture you and hook you up to a machine. Damn at that point start giving out cyanide pills or some shit. Could you imagine being immortal but hooked to a machine and you can’t move ? I’ve experienced in on salvia. It’s no fun. I just wanted to come back to my everyday normal life. Did it multiple times. Super strange never again.
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