Senator Hopes Bill to Ban AI Exports to China Will Gain Momentum
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who introduced a bill in January to prohibit AI technology exports to China (see 2502030031), said April 14 that he believes recent news about China’s AI activities might give his legislation a lift.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
A former Facebook executive told the Senate Judiciary Committee this month that the social media firm secretly helped China develop advanced AI. Lawmakers are also concerned that the smuggling of advanced American AI chips into China and a loophole in U.S. chip export controls may have fueled the recent development of an advanced AI model by Chinese startup DeepSeek.
“I hope that the recent revelations about Facebook and AI, about China’s continuing both theft of technology but accelerating AI technology, will make that bill urgent and that we’ll be able to get some movement on it,” Hawley told Export Compliance Daily.
Hawley’s Decoupling America’s Artificial Intelligence Capabilities from China Act is pending before the Senate Judiciary Committee. No immediate action on the bill is possible, as Congress is out of town until April 28.
In addition to banning AI technology exports to China, the legislation would bar U.S. companies from conducting AI research in China or with Chinese companies. It also would prohibit U.S. companies from investing money in Chinese AI development.