US legislators stress as Microsoft forms smooth AI ties with 'rival' China

US legislators are cautioning the tech giant Microsoft against developing close relations with China as it advances AI technology while CEO Brad Smith has recently praised further cooperation with the US rival.

Smith allegedly stated that the company was prepared to “actively participate in the digital transformation of China’s economy” earlier this month during a meeting with China’s Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao.

China expressed its expectation that Microsoft will take a "constructive role" in promoting AI collaboration during the conference, which focused on diplomatic matters and AI.

Congressmen from the US and other critics were alarmed by Smith's visit because they believed Microsoft's decades-long presence in China, where it employs over 10,000 people, could be a threat to national security.

Congress is being urged to sever the partnership by Sen Josh Hawley, who questioned Smith about whether Microsoft was “too entwined” with China during a high-profile altercation at a Senate hearing on AI in September.

“Microsoft should know better. The Chinese Communist Party wants AI supremacy so that it can degrade and defeat US capabilities, seize Taiwan, and make the world less safe,” Hawley told the New York Post. “No American company should be wined and dined into thinking otherwise. And Congress should block partnerships like this.”