Google is getting bad press for doing business in China, and it’s only getting worse. The widespread perception that Google is anti-Trump and anti-conservative is further fueling its China problems in Washington.
Last week, billionaire tech investor and Trump supporter Peter Thiel penned an op-ed in the New York Times accusing Google of doing business in China in a way that is “Good for Google, Bad for America.” Specifically, Thiel condemned the company for agreeing to work with the Chinese — but not the U.S. military — on artificial intelligence.
He’s right: While Google runs an AI lab in China, it refuses to work on AI with the Pentagon.
“A.I. is a military technology,” wrote Thiel. So why is Google sharing it with China, America’s chief strategic competitor?
Google insists it is not working with the Chinese military, and that it has “no evidence” that Google has been infiltrated by Chinese intelligence.
Of course, not having evidence of infiltration does not mean infiltration has not happened. After all, AI is precisely the type of technology the Chinese military wants. The Chinese government has made no secret of its ambitions in this area, and has announced its intentions to dominate the world’s AI market by 2030.
Furthermore, China’s economic development in the past four decades has shown that the country is not at all averse to stealing intellectual property it wishes to acquire. As the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has estimated, China’s intellectual property theft costs the U.S. economy between $225 billion and $600 billion annually.
It’s highly likely the Chinese government would make aggressive efforts to steal cutting-edge technology such as AI that has military applications. Thiel hence alleges that Google’s collaboration with the Chinese on AI is at best naïve — and at worst treasonous.
When Thiel made similar accusations against Google on Fox News in mid-July and called for FBI and CIA investigations, Trump quickly chimed in.
“Billionaire Tech Investor Peter Thiel believes Google should be investigated for treason. He accuses Google of working with the Chinese Government.” @foxandfriends A great and brilliant guy who knows this subject better than anyone! The Trump Administration will take a look!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 16, 2019
The company’s predicament might not be so bad if the political right did not widely believe that it is anti-Trump and anti-conservative.
Some of Google’s harshest critics on China on Capitol Hill are lawmakers who advocate for Google to be investigated for censoring conservative speech and viewpoints. After all, Google’s employees overwhelmingly lean left in their political support. In 2016, roughly 90% of the political contributions by employees of Google-related companies went to Democrats. And on the same day that Thiel’s op-ed was published, a former Google engineer accused the company of terminating him in 2018 for voicing conservative views.
Not a good look for a company that claims to be politically neutral.
If Google had actually been neutral, would Trump have refrained from calling for an investigation? It is quite possible, as Trump tends to go easy on his friends.
Google is not his friend.
Conservative lawmakers on Capitol Hill might also be less aggressive in condemning Google’s China connections and activities if they did not believe Google was actively working against their policy agenda and undermining their political activism.
So yes, Google’s AI involvement in China is a grave national security concern that requires serious discussions and solutions. But to facilitate more productive conversations with relevant lawmakers, Google may want to begin by building better relations with conservatives and the Trump administration, and encouraging more intellectual diversity within its ranks.
Ying Ma is the author of “Chinese Girl in the Ghetto,” which was released in audiobook in 2018. During the 2016 election, she served as the deputy director of the Committee for American Sovereignty, a pro-Trump super PAC. Follow her on Twitter: @GZtoGhetto.
