New Ties Between Eric Schmidt and Chinese AI Industry
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** CfA's April 12, 2024 Newsletter
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With your support, Campaign for Accountability is working to expose corruption and hold the powerful accountable.
** This Week's Updates:
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TTP Report Reveals New Ties Between Eric Schmidt and Chinese AI Industry
For years, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt has characterized the Chinese AI industry as a threat to U.S. strategic interests and human rights around the world. In 2019, he co-authored a National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI) report ([link removed]) announcing that the Chinese government was using AI to advance an “autocratic agenda” and set an example for other authoritarian governments. In op-eds, Schmidt claimed that China’s domestic use of AI was “deeply concerning ([link removed]) ,” and cautioned ([link removed]) that the U.S. was poised to fall behind in the race to develop AI technologies. This week,
though, new research from CfA's Tech Transparency Project (TTP) revealed ([link removed]) ties between Schmidt and Chinese AI companies, despite his apparent concern for human rights and U.S. technology leadership.
Tax filings reviewed by TTP suggest that Schmidt’s private foundation was making investments in Chinese companies while he steered NSCAI, and that these investments went to a private equity firm known to have led a funding round for an AI surveillance company that was eventually blacklisted ([link removed]) by the U.S. government. Previously undisclosed emails also suggest that Schmidt may have misused NSCAI staff to identify figures in China’s AI industry that he could meet with “in a personal capacity.” As a special government employee, Schmidt would have been barred from using these public resources for private gain.
TTP’s research was covered by Wired ([link removed]) , and the full report can be read here ([link removed]) .
Iowa Legislature Relaxes Standards for Deceptive Anti-Abortion Clinics
On Wednesday, Iowa governor Kim Reynolds signed a bill ([link removed]) that set standards for the state’s More Options for Maternal Support (MOMS) program, which will direct HHS funding to crisis pregnancy centers (CPCS) that do not provide abortions or comprehensive reproductive care. The state originally sought a third-party administrator for MOMS, but appeared unable to find qualified applicants ([link removed]) , and needed to modify the program with a new piece of legislation. Several CPCs are already set to receive funding; when a Democratic lawmaker called one of the clinics to ask about its diagnostic ultrasonographer certifications, a staff member told him that they “had some training” but weren’t certified
([link removed]) .
In 2020, CfA called on ([link removed]) Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf to end the state’s contract with Real Alternatives, a third-party CPC administrator which skimmed taxpayer dollars and failed to provide adequate pregnancy care. Three years after CfA filed its complaint, the newly-elected Gov. Josh Shapiro ended ([link removed]) Real Alternative’s contract, and redirected its funding to qualified women’s health services providers. Given this context – and the fact that CPCs operate outside of mainstream medicine ([link removed]) – it’s unsurprising that Iowa failed to find an eligible administrator for
MOMs.
Senior Treasury Official Sounds Warning on Crypto Terrorism Financing
This week, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Adewale Adeyemo appeared before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs to discuss the role of cryptocurrencies in illicit finance, with a focus on the financing of terrorist groups, Russian oligarchs, and other U.S. adversaries. In his testimony ([link removed]) , Adeyemo told lawmakers that the Treasury has taken great strides to keep bad actors out of traditional finance, but that this progress has been undercut by the emergence of cryptocurrencies. “The more effective our targeting has been,” he said, “the more reason there is for these terrorist groups to look into virtual assets.” Adeyemo proposed several legislative measures, including new sanctions for foreign cryptocurrency exchanges that facilitate illicit finance. He also asked lawmakers to consider “reforming existing authorities,” to give the U.S. greater jurisdiction over offshore cryptocurrency exchanges
that harm U.S. national security.
In November of 2023, CfA urged ([link removed]) Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) to examine the role that the U.S.-based crypto company Circle could be playing in terrorist financing. Since 2021 ([link removed]) , Circle had allowed its USDC currency to be issued on an offshore blockchain known as TRON, an erratically-managed company which had already had its offices raided ([link removed]) by the Chinese government. Circle initially disputed ([link removed]) CfA’s findings, and attempted to minimize its relationship with TRON. Then, in February 2024, Circle announced
([link removed]) that it would be pulling support for USDC on TRON, which it described as a step to ensure that the currency “remained trusted, transparent, and safe.”
What We're Reading
Billionaire Leonard Leo rejects Senate subpoena over supreme court gifts ([link removed])
Great unknown: How much energy crypto mining uses ([link removed])
Super PACs keep testing the limits of campaign finance law ([link removed])
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Be on the lookout for more updates about our work in the upcoming weeks. Thanks again for signing up to be a part of CfA!
Sincerely,
Michelle Kuppersmith
Executive Director, Campaign for Accountability
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