BEIJING: Alphabet Inc’s Google said on Wednesday it is opening an artificial intelligence (AI) research center in China to target the country’s local talent, even as the US search firm’s products remain blocked in the country.
Google said in a statement the research center is the first of its kind in Asia and will comprise a small team operating out of its existing office in Beijing.
Chinese policy makers have voiced strong support for AI research and development in the country, but have imposed increasingly strict rules on foreign firms in the past year, including new censorship restrictions.
Google’s search engine is banned in the Chinese market along with its app store, email and cloud storage services. China’s cyber regulators say restrictions on foreign media and Internet platforms are designed to block influences that contravene stability and socialist ideas.
While tightening restrictions are likely to hamper a re-entry to the Chinese market for Google, the firm has increasingly focused on exposing its AI products in China.
This year Google held a Go tournament in cooperation with local authorities in eastern China, pitching its AI against Chinese world champion Go player Ke Jie. The event was highly publicized overseas but local media was muted.
Earlier this month Google CEO Sundar Pichai made an appearance at a conference run by the Cyberspace Administration of China, the country’s top cyber regulator, where he steered away from market access issues to discuss the potential of AI.
Google said the new Chinese AI research center will join a list of similar overseas centers operating in New York, Toronto, London and Zurich.
Google launching artificial intelligence research center in China
Google launching artificial intelligence research center in China
Citi shuts most UAE branches temporarily as banks evacuate offices in region
DUBAI: Citibank will close most of its UAE branches and financial centers until March 14 as a precaution, its website showed on Thursday, as banks in the region sent staff home in response to a deepening Middle East conflict.
The US financial group’s measures are the latest sign of growing concern among banks after Iran threatened Gulf banking interests linked to the US and Israel.
The Citi branch in the Mall of the Emirates in central Dubai is exempted from the closure, the bank said on its website, adding it plans to reopen all affected branches on March 16.
Citi had moved to a fully remote model for all UAE-based staff and was continuing to serve clients without interruption, a spokesperson for the bank told Reuters.
The US-Israeli war on Iran has so far killed around 2,000 people and thrown global energy markets and transport into chaos as the conflict has spread across the Middle East, with Iranian strikes against Israel, US bases and Gulf states.
Citi told its staff to evacuate offices in the Dubai International Financial Center and Dubai’s Oud Metha district this week and to work from home until further notice.
“The decision to evacuate three of our buildings and to close branches in the UAE was responsive to information we received and is consistent with our commitment to prioritize the safety of our colleagues,” the spokesperson said.
HSBC, another major global bank, has closed all branches in Qatar until further notice, a customer notice said, to ensure the safety of staff and customers.
The war has dented Dubai’s sales pitch to international businesses as the region’s most reliable economic hub, prompting concerns of capital flight, layoffs and firms relocating elsewhere, Reuters reported last week.
Citi said on its website that its phone banking service in the UAE was currently operating at a limited capacity and the processing of cheques would experience delays.
