China is increasingly keeping its best AI talent to itself

Source: TechCrunch

Travel Restrictions on Top AI Researchers

For China’s leading 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.

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 how closely Beijing guards AI as both an economic asset and a national security priority.

Restrictions appear to have intensified after Beijing narrowed its focus on the Manus‑Meta deal. China has barred Manus’ two co‑founders from leaving the country while regulators investigate whether Meta’s $2 billion acquisition of the AI startup violates foreign‑investment rules, according to the Financial Times (source). The co‑founders are now said to be exploring options to fulfill Beijing’s demand to unwind the deal, including raising about $1 billion from external investors to buy back the company from Meta.

Impact on the AI Race

The AI race between the East and the West is closer than ever. Stanford’s latest index shows the performance gap between the top U.S. and Chinese models had shrunk to 2.7 % as of March 2026, down from about 31 % in 2023 (Stanford AI Index 2026; analysis of the gap: Humai blog).

The U.S. still dominates in model quality and high‑impact patents, but China is rapidly catching up—and in some metrics such as publications, citations, and patent volume, it may already be outpacing American AI labs.

Controls on Foreign Capital

In addition to travel restrictions, China reportedly plans to tighten oversight of U.S. capital flowing into its top AI firms. Government sign‑off would be required before tech companies like Moonshot AI, StepFun, and ByteDance can accept American investment, per Bloomberg (April 2026).

Recent Economic Countermeasures

The travel and investment curbs follow a series of escalating economic measures:

• Export controls (2025): Two rounds of restrictions on 14 rare‑earth materials critical to high‑tech military manufacturing (Al Jazeera).
• Data‑center restrictions: State‑funded data centers barred from deploying foreign AI chips (AOL).