Feds Target AI Critics as “Foreign Agents”

联邦政府将人工智能批评者定性为“外国代理人”

Anxiety over AI and data centers is widely held, but somehow the Trump administration has convinced itself the public concern was manufactured in China. 对于人工智能和数据中心的焦虑情绪普遍存在，但特朗普政府却不知为何认定这种公众担忧是由中国制造的。

This week, in little-noticed remarks by President Trump and Justice Department warning, the administration declared war on protestors and opponents of AI, threatening “criminal liability” if they “further the propaganda or other goals of a foreign power.” 本周，在特朗普总统发表的鲜为人知的言论以及司法部的警告中，政府向人工智能的抗议者和反对者宣战，威胁称如果他们“推进外国势力的宣传或其他目标”，将面临“刑事责任”。

While that sounds like some modern day Tokyo Rose shilling for Beijing, with orders coming in over shortwave radio, the actual targets are just normal people who have no idea they are part of the government’s latest national security mirage. 虽然这听起来像是现代版的“东京玫瑰”在为北京摇旗呐喊，仿佛指令是通过短波电台传达的，但实际的目标仅仅是普通民众，他们根本不知道自己已成为政府最新国家安全幻象的一部分。

Last week, the Justice Department instructed “citizens and noncitizens” that anyone furthering the “goals” of a foreign power in “any public activity” — including even “public demonstrations” — must formally notify the government to avoid arrest and prosecution. 上周，司法部指示“公民和非公民”，任何在“任何公共活动”（甚至包括“公开示威”）中推进外国势力“目标”的人，都必须正式通知政府，以避免被捕和起诉。

Though they don’t identify any specific protests, it’s not hard to surmise who they’re talking about. Two days prior, President Trump began a spate of social posts declaring that opposition to AI is a traitorous, treasonous conspiracy theory tracing back to China. 尽管他们没有指明具体的抗议活动，但不难推测他们指的是谁。两天前，特朗普总统开始在社交媒体上发布一系列帖子，宣称对人工智能的反对是一种可以追溯到中国的叛国阴谋论。

“There is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers, and the only one that is happy about it is China,” Trump posted on September 14. “Conspiracy Theorists, Treasonists, Traitors, and Leakers, BEWARE!” “针对人工智能和数据中心的阴谋令人作呕，唯一为此感到高兴的是中国，”特朗普在9月14日发帖称。“阴谋论者、叛国者、卖国贼和泄密者，小心了！”

“The people that say AI is going to destroy the World, and that Data Centers are bad for your neighborhood,” Trump also posted, “are Revolutionaries, but Revolutionaries for a Bad and Evil Cause.” “那些说人工智能会毁灭世界、说数据中心对社区有害的人，”特朗普还写道，“他们是革命者，但却是为邪恶事业服务的革命者。”

In a third post, he blamed the skepticism of AI on an unnamed foreign country. “The only reason the AI/Data Center outburst is happening is because the United States is leading, by a lot, every other country,” he said. 在第三篇帖子中，他将对人工智能的怀疑归咎于一个未具名的外国。“人工智能/数据中心爆发争议的唯一原因，是因为美国在很大程度上领先于其他所有国家，”他说。

Most recently, on September 10, Trump alluded to using the criminal justice system to go after “BAD” actors in the AI space. “[W]e will also be looking for BAD, and we can do that, very easily, with our already existing Criminal and Civil Justice System,” Trump warned on September 19. 最近，在9月10日，特朗普暗示将利用刑事司法系统来追究人工智能领域“坏”分子的责任。9月19日，特朗普警告称：“我们将寻找这些‘坏’分子，利用我们现有的刑事和民事司法系统，我们可以非常轻松地做到这一点。”

In other words, the president is playing the national security card. And Congress got there first. 换句话说，总统正在打国家安全牌。而国会在这方面先行一步。

In June, Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Tom Cotton (R-AR) asked then-acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to investigate “foreign influence efforts targeting the buildout of American AI infrastructure.” “Alarming reports indicate that a network of foreign actors, led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is attempting to manipulate U.S. policy and public opinion on data centers,” Cotton wrote. 今年6月，参议院情报委员会主席汤姆·科顿（共和党，阿肯色州）要求时任代理司法部长托德·布兰奇调查“针对美国人工智能基础设施建设的外国影响力活动”。科顿写道：“令人震惊的报告显示，一个以中国共产党（CCP）为首的外国行为体网络，正试图操纵美国关于数据中心的政策和舆论。”

Cotton’s chief exhibit was Neville Roy Singham, a Shanghai-based American tech mogul whose network of left-wing U.S. nonprofits, Cotton claimed, has spent years producing content opposing American AI infrastructure, with the Chinese government as its “ultimate paymaster.” 科顿的主要证据指向居住在上海的美国科技大亨内维尔·罗伊·辛格姆（Neville Roy Singham）。科顿声称，辛格姆在美国的左翼非营利组织网络多年来一直在制作反对美国人工智能基础设施的内容，而中国政府是其“最终金主”。

“We can’t allow any effort by foreign adversaries to extort … and undermine our technological development,” Cotton wrote. Complaining that “no entity in the network has been charged under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA),” he asked the Justice Department to “launch a full investigation into these matters.” “我们不能允许外国对手进行任何勒索……并破坏我们技术发展的企图，”科顿写道。他抱怨称“该网络中没有任何实体根据《外国代理人登记法》（FARA）受到指控”，并要求司法部“对这些事项展开全面调查”。

Days before Cotton’s letter, top Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, led by Chairman Brett Guthrie (R-KY), raised nearly identical concerns. They asked FBI Director Kash Patel and the White House for a briefing on what they called foreign influence campaigns aimed at blocking American data centers. 在科顿发出信函的前几天，由主席布雷特·格思里（共和党，肯塔基州）领导的众议院能源和商业委员会的共和党高层提出了几乎相同的担忧。他们要求联邦调查局局长卡什·帕特尔和白宫就他们所谓的旨在阻挠美国数据中心的外国影响力行动进行简报。

“It is critical that this Administration takes any effort to undermine [winning the AI race] — particularly from foreign adversaries — with a great deal of seriousness,” they wrote. “本届政府必须极其严肃地对待任何破坏[赢得人工智能竞赛]的企图——尤其是来自外国对手的企图，”他们写道。

Guthrie said in his own statement: “The fact that Chinese Communist Party-backed entities and other foreign adversaries may be attempting to influence decisions related to American data center infrastructure puts into perspective how serious of a fight we are in.” 格思里在自己的声明中表示：“中国共产党支持的实体和其他外国对手可能正试图影响与美国数据中心基础设施相关的决策，这一事实凸显了我们所处斗争的严峻性。”

And well before Trump weighed in, a chorus of private figures in his orbit were pushing the same line. Start with David Sacks, the venture capitalist who served as Trump’s AI czar before stepping down to become co-chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Sacks has been casting domestic resistance to AI as a gift to Beijing. 早在特朗普介入之前，他周围的一群私人人士就已经在推行同样的论调。首先是风险投资家大卫·萨克斯（David Sacks），他曾担任特朗普的人工智能主管，后卸任成为总统科技顾问委员会的联合主席。萨克斯一直将国内对人工智能的抵制描述为送给北京的礼物。

After a Chinese model topped a coding leaderboard in July, he complained that “America is tying itself in knots: politicians and bureaucrats are banning new data centers … This is how you lose the AI race.” More recently, Sacks warned on Fox News against moves that would “just hand the whole ball game to China.” 7月份，当一个中国模型在编码排行榜上名列前茅后，他抱怨道：“美国正在作茧自缚：政客和官僚们正在禁止建设新的数据中心……这就是你们输掉人工智能竞赛的方式。”最近，萨克斯在福克斯新闻上警告称，某些举措将“直接把整个比赛拱手让给中国”。

Then there’s Kevin O’Leary, the “Shark Tank” investor behind a planned $100 billion data center in Utah. O’Leary, a vocal Trump supporter, has spent the past two years cozying up to the administration. That includes a January 2025 Mar-a-Lago sit-down with the president-elect, and a stretch lobbying Trump officials there in a bid to buy TikTok. 还有凯文·奥利里（Kevin O’Leary），这位《创智赢家》（Shark Tank）的投资人正在犹他州筹划一个价值1000亿美元的数据中心项目。作为特朗普的坚定支持者，奥利里在过去两年里一直试图与政府拉近关系。这包括2025年1月在海湖庄园与当选总统的会面，以及在那段时间游说特朗普官员以寻求收购TikTok。

This Spring, O’Leary claimed that hundreds of millions of dollars from China were paying protesters to oppose data centers like his. One group he targeted, the Alliance for a Better Utah, shot back: “The only foreign interest in this data center is Kevin from Canada.” 今年春天，奥利里声称来自中国的数亿美元资金正在资助抗议者反对像他这样的数据中心。他针对的组织之一“为了更好的犹他州联盟”（Alliance for a Better Utah）反击道：“这个数据中心唯一的外国利益相关者就是来自加拿大的凯文。”

It gets funnier. In a June 25 post on X, O’Leary conceded he had “no evidence” that the groups and people he’d named were funded by China, and Fox News aired apologies. Two of the groups have since sued. 事情变得更有趣了。在6月25日发布于X平台的一篇帖子中，奥利里承认他“没有证据”表明他点名的团体和个人是由中国资助的，福克斯新闻也播出了道歉声明。此后，其中两个团体已提起诉讼。