China expands travel curbs to top AI talent at private firms

BEIJING – China is restricting overseas travel for top AI professionals in private firms such as Alibaba and DeepSeek, suggesting an escalation in measures intended to safeguard its technology and catch up to the US in a pivotal sphere.

Government agencies have begun imposing restrictions on individuals involved in advanced artificial intelligence work and considered strategically important to the country, people familiar with the matter said.

That means they need approval from the authorities before embarking on overseas travel, the sources said, asking for anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue.

Beijing has for years imposed travel restrictions on key personnel, from prominent college researchers to nuclear scientists to executives at state firms. The government is now specifically targeting talent within the AI sphere.

Among the key industry professionals who have been informed that they will be subject to such restrictions are a mix of start-up founders, researchers and executives, the sources said. 

It is unclear how broadly those curbs will affect staff members across the industry, what level of seniority may be targeted or what specific roles could be added to the list of people affected. 

In China, state-owned enterprises are known to hold the passports of their senior executives and Communist Party officials. What is unusual is for the government to extend travel restrictions to private firms.

The authorities are also adding individuals to the list based on assessments of their critical importance to the country, rather than just their seniority or place of employment, the sources said. 

The moves highlight how elite AI engineers are now seen as strategic assets to the world’s second-largest economy.

Much of China’s pool of top-flight AI talent emerged in the post-ChatGPT era – and mostly at the country’s tech giants or private start-ups. 

Such restrictions, however, risk undermining the ability of AI firms in China to recruit and retain talent.

They may also add to concerns about the extent of government intervention in an industry still coming to grips with Beijing’s demand for Meta to unwind its US$2 billion (S$2.56 billion) acquisition of Manus. 

Because Manus was an AI firm that started out in China but relocated to Singapore, the takeover provoked a backlash about the loss of technology and talent.

As part of the fallout, Beijing moved to limit US investment in sensitive technology firms. The authorities barred two of Manus’ co-founders from leaving the country while they probed the acquisition, the Financial Times reported. 

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology did not respond to a faxed request for comment. DeepSeek and Alibaba representatives also did not respond to requests for comment.

While Beijing’s plan to restrict AI personnel’s movement is not necessarily linked to the Manus saga, the sources said, guarding against technology leaks remains a key policy goal. But such a policy may force engineers with global ambitions to choose between staying home and going abroad earlier in their careers.

Some AI engineers in the private sector have for some time been required to report overseas travel plans to the authorities, though it has not necessarily been a requirement to obtain approval ahead of those trips, people familiar with the matter said.

In 2025, the Wall Street Journal reported that Chinese authorities told top AI founders and researchers to avoid visiting the US, though they stopped short of an outright ban. Bloomberg