China Struggles to Recruit Foreign AI Talent Despite Grants
China is failing to attract international AI researchers despite government incentives, while the United States continues to grow its pool of Chinese-origin scientists.
The Government of China is struggling to recruit foreign artificial intelligence researchers despite implementing lucrative research grants and specialized scientist visas. A study by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace found that for every 30 Chinese AI researchers working in the United States in 2025, only one foreign researcher moved to China.
While China has improved its ability to retain domestic talent and attract some returnees—such as former OpenAI researcher Yao Shunyu, who joined Tencent—its ambitions are hindered by state restrictions. The government has reportedly curtailed travel for AI researchers and entrepreneurs to prevent them from leaving the country. This included barring the founders of Manus from traveling during a proposed $2 billion acquisition by Meta.
Conversely, the United States maintains its lead in AI dominance through a diverse international workforce. The number of Chinese-origin researchers working in the U.S. rose by 4 percentage points over three years, persisting despite visa restrictions and funding cuts imposed by the Trump administration. Although Chinese institutions like Peking University and Tsinghua University have risen in global publishing rankings, and Chinese authors now represent 41 percent of published authors at the NeurIPS conference compared to 34 percent for U.S. researchers, the U.S. remains the primary destination for global AI talent.
