Tuesday, July 30, 2024 – Asia Society Northern California hosted an Executive Roundtable on The Impact of U.S.-China Relations on Science & A.I. Talent with Chenjian Li, physician scientist and research fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University, and Mark Nitzberg, Executive Director of UC Berkeley’s Center for Human-Compatible AI. The roundtable was moderated by Alan Seem, Partner at DLA Piper in Palo Alto. Speakers Li and Nitzberg covered a range of topics which detailed the purpose and implications of the China Initiative.

Li shared the current state of scientific research in China, providing examples to demonstrate Chinese scholars’ impact on innovation in various fields such as gene editing and regenerative medicine. He described the major factors resulting in talent migration and flow between China and the United States, including an increasingly unwelcome culture in the U.S. towards Chinese talent, a disproportionate supply and demand for top scholars within both nations, and push/pull incentives related to STEM funding. Nitzberg provided anecdotes from his experience working at Berkeley, sharing how the chilling effect resulting from the China Initiative has impacted the outflow of Chinese-born A.I. researchers living in the United States.

The speakers spoke with guests who shared their personal experiences and engagement with the topic. Li and Nitzberg also answered attendees’ questions regarding the future of the U.S.-China scientific collaboration. Li offered a hopeful thought on the potential of exporting democratic values and critical thinking to China through science & tech talent repatriation.