China is increasingly keeping its best AI talent to itself

6:48 AM PDT · May 27, 2026

For China’s top AI researchers, the borders are quickly closing. Researchers, startup founders and executives at private firms are now reportedly subject to travel restrictions, with some of the industry’s most prominent figures required to seek government approval before heading abroad.

The restrictions reflect a wider shift in how Beijing manages the brain-drain in the AI sector, which has seen skyrocketing demand for talent to train and tweak AI models as the global tech industry taps into this new avenue to seek growth.

In March 2025, the Wall Street Journal reported that Chinese authorities had been advising top AI founders and researchers to avoid traveling to the U.S., an early signal of just how closely Beijing has come to guard AI as both an economic asset and a national security priority.

Restrictions appear to have intensified in the wake of Beijing narrowing...

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