Microsoft has allegedly encouraged China-based cloud computing and artificial intelligence operations personnel to consider migrating out of the country, as Washington pushes down on Beijing’s access to the advanced technology.

The Wall Street Journal published the story on Thursday, citing unidentified sources to claim that the employees, who were primarily Chinese engineers, had been given the option to relocate to the United States, Ireland, Australia, or New Zealand.

According to a person who spoke with WSJ, Microsoft extended the offer to around 700–800 individuals working on machine learning and other cloud computing-related projects.

Microsoft said that it had “shared an optional internal transfer opportunity with a subset of employees” in a statement provided to CNBC, but it did not specify how many people were impacted or what their affiliation was.

The representative stated, “We are still committed to the area and will keep operating in this and other markets where we are present,” and that operations would not be impacted by the possible transfers.

According to the WSJ, Microsoft’s research and development business for Asia-Pacific employs around 7,000 engineers, the majority of whom are headquartered in China.

The action is a result of US attempts to stop China from creating advanced AI technology that may be used for military objectives.

The United States has imposed rounds of limitations on China over the last two years, restricting its ability to purchase cutting-edge semiconductors and chip-making machinery that may be used to train artificial intelligence models.

According to recent reports, the Biden administration is now trying to impose additional restrictions on the export of sophisticated AI models, including the huge language model that underpins Microsoft-backed ChatGPT.

Currently, regulatory monitoring is minimal and does not prevent corporations like Microsoft, one of the biggest participants in AI and cloud computing in the United States, from selling or providing AI model services to foreign entities.

According to reports, the United States is concerned that AI models, which consume enormous quantities of data to produce content, can be used to launch cyberattacks or produce biological weapons.

Microsoft published a study earlier this year claiming that state-sponsored hackers from Iran, China, and Russia have been honing their craft and bolstering their hacking operations with OpenAI technologies.

Even when other Western IT companies were driven out of China by stringent regulations, Microsoft has had a strong presence in the country for more than thirty years. The largest R&D centre outside of the United States, according to the firm, is located in China.

(Adapted from BusinessInsider.com)