纽约时报中文网 - 中英对照版-中英中美科技战加剧微软亚洲研究院还会留在中国吗

When Microsoft opened an advanced research lab in Beijing in 1998, it was a time of optimism about technology and China.

1998年，微软在北京设立了一个先进的研究院，那是一个对科技和中国充满乐观的时代。

The company hired hundreds of researchers for the lab, which pioneered Microsoft’s work in speech, image and facial recognition and the kind of artificial intelligence that later gave rise to online chatbots like ChatGPT. The Beijing operation eventually became one of the most important A.I. labs in the world. Bill Gates, Microsoft’s co-founder, called it an opportunity to tap China’s “deep pool of intellectual talent.”

微软为它聘请了数百名研究人员，它开创了微软在语音、图像和面部识别方面的工作，以及后来催生了ChatGPT等在线聊天机器人的人工智能。北京的这个研究院最终成为世界上最重要的人工智能实验室之一。微软的联合创始人比尔·盖茨称，这是一个挖掘中国“智力人才宝库”的机会。

But as tensions between the United States and China have mounted over which nation will lead the world’s technological future, Microsoft’s top leaders — including Satya Nadella, its chief executive, and Brad Smith, its president — have debated what to do with the prized lab for at least the past year, four current and former Microsoft employees said.

但四名现任和前任微软员工表示，随着中美在引领世界技术未来问题上的紧张关系加剧，至少在过去一年里，微软高层——包括首席执行官萨蒂亚·纳德拉和总裁布拉德·史密斯——一直在讨论如何处理这个备受推崇的研究院。

The company has faced questions from U.S. officials over whether maintaining an 800-person advanced technologies lab in China is tenable, the people said. Microsoft said it had instituted guardrails at the lab, restricting researchers from politically sensitive work.

知情人士说，美国官员质疑微软在中国维持一个800人规模的先进技术研究院是否合理。微软表示，它已经在该研究院设置了安全护栏，限制研究人员从事政治敏感的工作。

The company, which is based in Redmond, Wash., said it had also opened an outpost of the lab in Vancouver, British Columbia, and would move some researchers from China to the location. The outpost is a backup if more researchers need to relocate, two people said. The idea of shutting down or moving the lab has come up, but Microsoft’s leaders support continuing it in China, four people said.

总部位于华盛顿州雷德蒙德的微软表示，它还在不列颠哥伦比亚省的温哥华设立了一个该研究院的分部，并将把部分研究人员从中国调到那里。两名知情人士说，如果有更多的研究人员需要搬迁，这个分部是一个备用设施。四名知情人士说，关闭或转移研究院的想法已经出现，但微软领导层支持将该研究机构留在中国。

“We are as committed as ever to the lab and the world-class research of this team,” Peter Lee, who leads Microsoft Research, a network of eight labs across the world, said in a statement. Using the lab’s formal name, he added, “There has been no discussion or advocacy to close Microsoft Research Asia, and we look forward to continuing our research agenda.”

“我们一如既往地致力于这个研究院和这个团队的世界级研究，”微软研究院的负责人彼得·李在声明中说。该研究院在全球拥有八家研究机构。他还表示，“我们没有讨论或主张关闭微软亚洲研究院，我们期待着继续我们的研究议程。”微软亚洲研究院是北京这家研究机构的正式名称。

The debate at Microsoft stands out because the company is one of the few major U.S. tech firms — alongside Apple and Tesla — to keep a foothold in China. As China nurtured a domestic tech industry and geopolitical tensions increased with the United States, American companies such as Google whittled down their presence there. Facebook and other U.S. social media sites such as X have been blocked in China for years.

微软的争论之所以引人注目，是因为除苹果和特斯拉之外，该公司是在中国站稳脚跟的少数美国大型科技公司之一。随着中国国内科技产业的发展以及与美国地缘政治紧张局势的加剧，谷歌等美国公司减少了在华业务。Facebook和X等其他美国社交媒体网站多年来一直在中国被屏蔽。

LinkedIn, which Microsoft owns, shut down its professional social network in China in 2021, citing growing compliance demands. But Microsoft has maintained its Bing search engine as the only foreign search engine in China, though it is heavily censored, and it offers its Windows operating system, cloud computing and applications for corporate customers there.

微软旗下的领英于2021年关闭了在中国的职业社交网络，理由是合规要求越来越高。尽管受到严格审查，但微软的搜索引擎必应一直是中国唯一的外国搜索引擎。微软还为中国企业客户提供Windows操作系统、云计算和应用程序。

Microsoft has debated the lab’s future for several years, five people with knowledge of the situation said. It has become a target of national security concerns amid the rise of A.I. and growing aggression between the United States and China. The hypothetical risks are that China could hack or otherwise infiltrate the lab, or that its researchers could leave Microsoft to join Chinese companies that work closely with the government, the people said.

五名知情人士说，微软已经就该研究院的未来讨论了好几年。随着人工智能的崛起和美中敌对情绪的加剧，它已成为国家安全担忧的目标。知情人士说，假设的风险是中国可能对该研究院进行黑客攻击或以其他方式渗透，或是研究人员离开微软，加入与政府密切合作的中国公司。

The Biden administration privately asked Microsoft about the lab while drafting a ban over the past two years on new U.S. investments in companies building sensitive technologies in China that Beijing could use to enhance its military, two people familiar with the conversations said. (The proposed rules, issued in August, are not yet final.)

两位知情人士说，拜登政府过去两年起草了一项禁令，禁止美国对在华开发敏感技术的公司进行新投资，因为北京可能会利用这些技术来增强其军事实力。（8月发布的拟议规则尚未最终确定。）

Senators asked Mr. Smith about Microsoft’s ties to China at a subcommittee hearing on A.I. in September. He said the country accounted for 1.5 percent of Microsoft’s sales, which were $212 billion last fiscal year.

今年9月，在一个关于人工智能的小组委员会听证会上，参议员们向史密斯询问了微软与中国的关系。他说，中国占微软销售额的1.5%，上一财年的销售额为2120亿美元。

Microsoft faces “a tricky balance,” said Chris Miller, the author of “Chip War,” a book that tracks the geopolitical history of tech. “They need to consider where the trust of the political system is going.”

微软面临“一个棘手的平衡挑战”，《芯片战争》(Chip War)一书的作者克里斯·米勒表示，该书讲述了科技地缘政治史的发展。“他们要考虑政治体制接下来会把信任放在哪里。”

The White House declined to comment.

白宫拒绝置评。

Microsoft’s lab in Beijing was born when Mr. Gates appointed Kai-Fu Lee, a Taiwanese-born A.I. researcher, to build the operation. (Dr. Lee later left to join Google and now runs a venture capital firm.)

盖茨任命出生于台湾的人工智能专家李开复领导建立了北京的微软研究院。（李开复后来离开微软加入谷歌，现在经营着一家风险投资公司。）

Researchers at the lab, many of whom were at the top of their field, explored technologies such as speech recognition, computer vision and natural language understanding, which are cornerstones in the development of artificial intelligence. Some of the lab’s researchers left for key positions at Chinese tech giants like Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent or helped found start-ups such as Megvii, a facial recognition company that has contributed to a vast national surveillance system in the country.

该研究院汇集了不同领域的许多顶尖人才，他们探索了语音识别、计算机视觉和自然语言理解等技术，这都是人工智能发展的基石。一些研究者后来在阿里巴巴、百度和腾讯等中国科技巨头担任要职，还有人帮助创立了旷视科技等初创企业，旷视科技是一家面部识别技术公司，帮助中国打造出庞大的国家监控系统。

In 2018, Microsoft said it had invested more than $1 billion in research and development in China over the previous decade. The technical talent and invention from the Beijing lab underpin a key internal argument for supporting it.

微软在2018年宣称，过去十年该公司在中国的研发投入超过10亿美元。北京研究院的技术人才和创新成果正是微软持续投入的关键内部动力。

But the lab’s success and prestige also attracted attention in Washington, where the White House has increasingly restricted China’s access to crucial technologies, citing national security.

但该研究院的成功和声望也引起了华盛顿的关注，白宫以国家安全为由，越来越多地限制中国获取关键技术。

Microsoft’s leaders have discussed how to manage the tensions. Mr. Gates, who is still in regular touch with company executives and supports global engagement, has long backed the Beijing lab, people with knowledge of the matter said. He traveled to China in June and met President Xi Jinping, who told him that he was “the first American friend I’ve met with this year.”

微软领导层曾讨论过要如何应对紧张局势。知情人称，盖茨长期以来一直支持北京的研究院，他仍与公司高层保持定期联络，并赞成全球参与战略。去年6月，他访问了中国并会见了习近平主席，习近平对他说，“你是我今年在北京会见的第一位美国朋友。”

Microsoft’s technology and research leaders, including Peter Lee and Kevin Scott, the chief technology officer, also support the lab, arguing that it has produced critical technological breakthroughs, two people said. Mr. Smith also backs the lab.

两位知情人表示，包括彼得·李和首席技术官凯文·斯科特在内的微软技术和研究领导者也都支持该研究院，称其已经取得了关键的技术突破。史密斯也支持该研究院。

“The lesson of history is that countries succeed when they learn from the world,” Mr. Smith said in a statement. “Guardrails and controls are critical, while engagement remains vital.”

“历史的教训是，只有向世界学习的国家才能成功，”史密斯在声明中表示。“安全护栏和管制至关重要，但参与仍不可或缺。”

In recent years, Microsoft has limited what projects the researchers in China can work on, people with knowledge of the matter said. Last fall, researchers in China were not allowed on the small teams at Microsoft that had early access to GPT-4, the advanced A.I. system developed by Microsoft’s partner OpenAI, they said.

知情人称，微软近年来对中国研究者可以从事的项目进行了限制。他们透露，去年秋天，微软不允许中国研究者加入可以提前使用GPT-4的小型团队，GPT-4是微软合作伙伴OpenAI研发的先进人工智能系统。

The lab also has restrictions on work related to quantum computing, facial recognition and synthetic media, Microsoft said. The company also blocks hiring or working with students and researchers from universities affiliated with China’s military, it said.

微软称，公司也对该研究院在量子计算、面部识别与合成媒体方面的研究工作进行了限制。同时，微软还宣布禁止雇用中国军方下属大学的学生及研究者，也不能与他们合作。

(The New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft last month for copyright infringement over the training of their A.I. systems.)

（《纽约时报》上个月起诉了微软和OpenAI，指控其人工智能系统的训练侵犯了版权。）

In the outpost of the lab in Vancouver, researchers can freely have access to critical technologies, including computing power and OpenAI systems needed for cutting-edge research, two people with knowledge of the lab said.

两位了解该研究院内情的人表示，在温哥华的分部，研究者可以自由接触关键技术，包括从事尖端研究所需的计算能力和OpenAI系统。