内容来源：https://www.wired.com/story/made-in-china-ai-research-is-starting-to-split-along-geopolitical-lines/

内容总结：

全球顶级人工智能学术会议NeurIPS（神经信息处理系统大会）近日因出台针对部分国际研究人员的限制性条款，引发学术界强烈反弹。在遭遇中国AI研究界的集体抵制后，会议组织方迅速撤销了相关争议规定，但这一事件已折射出地缘政治对国际科研合作造成的冲击。

3月中旬，NeurIPS在2026年度论文提交指南中新增条款，声称无法为受美国制裁的实体提供同行评审、编辑出版等服务，并链接至涵盖多家中国机构的美方制裁名单数据库。此举若实施，将直接影响腾讯、华为等中国企业研究人员参与会议。

规定公布后迅速引发全球学术界批评。中国科学技术协会随即发表声明，宣布停止资助学者参加NeurIPS会议，相关论文不再计入科研评价体系，并呼吁支持尊重学者权益的学术平台。至少六名学者公开表示拒绝担任本届会议领域主席，多名评审也宣布退出。

面对压力，NeurIPS组织方于上周五紧急更新指南，将限制范围收窄至"特别指定国民与禁止人员名单"（主要针对恐怖组织及犯罪集团），并解释此前条款是因"法律团队沟通失误"所致。但风波已对中美科学界合作信心造成冲击。

据《经济学人》分析，2025年NeurIPS收录论文中约半数作者具有中国学术背景，清华大学以390篇论文成为最大贡献机构。西湖大学助理教授修宇亮指出："NeurIPS的繁荣源于全球研究者共同努力，其发展长期得到包括受制裁实体的多方资助。"

业界观察人士认为，此次事件可能成为国际科研合作格局演变的转折点。咨询公司DGA-Albright Stonebridge合伙人保罗·特里奥表示："吸引中国研究者参会符合美国利益，但如今基础AI研究已难以脱离政治语境。"随着中美科技竞争加剧，如何维系开放合作的学术生态正成为全球学界面临的共同挑战。

中文翻译：

全球顶级人工智能研究会议——神经信息处理系统大会（简称NeurIPS）本周成为最新一个卷入地缘政治与全球科学合作冲突的组织。在收到中国AI研究者的抵制威胁后，会议组织方先是宣布了针对国际参会者的争议性新规，随后又迅速撤回。

"这可能是一个潜在的分水岭时刻，"咨询公司奥尔布赖特石桥集团合伙人保罗·特里奥罗表示。他认为吸引中国研究者参与NeurIPS符合美国利益，但部分美国官员正推动中美科学家脱钩——尤其在已成为华盛顿敏感议题的人工智能领域。

此事可能加剧围绕AI研究的政治紧张局势，并阻碍中国科学家未来赴美高校及科技企业工作。"在某种程度上，现在很难将基础AI研究排除在（政治）图景之外，"特里奥罗指出。

在3月中旬发布的年度论文投稿指南中，NeurIPS组织方宣布了更新后的参会限制。新规声明会议不得向任何受美国制裁的机构提供"同行评审、编辑和出版"服务，并附上了受制裁实体数据库链接。该数据库包含美国工业与安全局的实体清单，以及据称与中国军方有关的另一份清单。

新规本将影响腾讯、华为等经常在NeurIPS发表成果的中国企业研究者。数据库也包含俄罗斯、伊朗等其他国家的实体。美国虽限制与这些机构的商业往来，但并未针对学术出版或会议参与设立规范。

NeurIPS指南现已更新，明确限制仅适用于"特别指定国民与封锁人员"名单——该名单主要针对恐怖组织和犯罪集团。

会议组织方在周五声明中解释："在编写2026年NeurIPS指南时，我们误引了涵盖范围远超实际要求的美国政府制裁工具链接。此错误源于NeurIPS基金会与法律团队的沟通失误。"在撤回新规前，组织方曾表示该规定"涉及NeurIPS基金会必须遵守的法律义务"，并称正在就此寻求法律咨询。

激烈反弹

新规立即引发全球AI研究者强烈反对，在产出大量前沿机器学习论文、汇聚越来越多全球顶尖AI人才的中国尤为激烈。多个学术团体发表声明谴责该措施，更重要的是，他们开始劝阻中国学者未来参与NeurIPS。部分团体呼吁学者转而支持国内学术会议，这或许有助于提升中国在相关科技领域的影响力。

中国科学技术协会周四表示，将停止资助中国学者赴NeurIPS参会，转而支持"尊重中国学者权益"的国内外会议。该机构还宣布在评估未来科研项目时，不再将2026年NeurIPS发表的论文计入学术成果。目前尚不清楚NeurIPS撤回新规后，这些措施是否会调整。

至少六位学者公开表示因制裁政策拒绝了今年NeurIPS领域主席的邀请，另有多人表示将不再担任论文评审。"自2020年起我每年都担任NeurIPS领域主席，但刚刚拒绝了，"伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳-香槟分校机器学习研究者姜楠在社交媒体写道，"组织方至少欠学界一个解释：为何唯独他们采用这种政策。"

人工智能公司Sapient Intelligence的研究员亚辛·阿巴西-亚德科里表示："这让我少了一份领域主席的职责。若非已向同事承诺，我今年也不会投稿。"

脆弱纽带

这场争议折射出顶尖研究者正面临日益复杂的政治环境——尽管他们长期习惯于国际协作，且AI进展往往依赖这种开放性，但近年中美紧张关系的升级已使局面显著复杂化。

每年有数千名中国科学家参与NeurIPS。《经济学人》分析显示，2025年该会议约半数论文来自具有中国学术背景的研究者。被广泛视为中国顶尖学府的清华大学以390篇论文位列机构榜首，阿里巴巴研究者也凭借开源AI模型Qwen的相关工作获得会议最佳论文奖。

《连线》杂志此前分析表明，尽管华盛顿与北京关系趋紧，中美研究者在NeurIPS论文上的合作大体延续。但最新的制裁风波可能令这些纽带承压。

"NeurIPS的繁荣源于全球研究者的共同努力，其发展长期以来也得到部分受制裁实体的赞助支持，"西湖大学数字图形学助理教授修宇亮在社交媒体写道。他同样拒绝了担任会议领域主席的邀请。

英文来源：

The world’s top AI research conference, the Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems—better known as NeurIPS—became the latest organization this week to become embroiled in a growing clash between geopolitics and global scientific collaboration. The conference’s organizers announced and then quickly reversed controversial new restrictions for international participants after Chinese AI researchers threatened to boycott the event.
“This is a potential watershed moment,” says Paul Triolo, a partner at the advisory firm DGA-Albright Stonebridge who studies US-China relations. Triolo argues that attracting Chinese researchers to NeurIPS is beneficial to US interests, but some American officials have pushed for American and Chinese scientists to decouple their work—especially in AI, which has become a particularly sensitive topic in Washington.
The incident could deepen political tensions around AI research, as well as dissuade Chinese scientists from working at US universities and tech companies in the future. “At some level now it is going to be hard to keep basic AI research out of the [political] picture,” Triolo says.
In its annual handbook for paper submissions, issued in mid-March, NeurIPS organizers announced updated restrictions for participation. The rules stated that the event could not provide services including “peer review, editing, and publishing” to any organizations subject to US sanctions, and linked to a database of sanctioned entities. It included companies and organizations on the Bureau of Industry and Security’s entity list and those on another list with alleged ties to the Chinese military.
The new rules would have affected researchers at Chinese companies like Tencent and Huawei who regularly present work at NeurIPS. The database also includes entities from other countries such as Russia and Iran. The US places limits on doing business with these organizations, but there are no rules around academic publishing or conference participation.
The NeurIPS handbook has since been updated to specify that the restrictions apply only to Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons, a list used primarily for terrorist groups and criminal organizations.
“In preparing the NeurIPS 2026 handbook, we included a link to a US government sanctions tool that covers a significantly broader set of restrictions than those NeurIPS is actually required to follow,” the event’s organizers said in a statement issued Friday. “This error was due to miscommunication between the NeurIPS Foundation and our legal team.”
Before they reversed course, the conference organizers initially said that the new rule was “about legal requirements that apply to the NeurIPS Foundation, which is responsible for complying with sanctions,” adding that it was seeking legal consultation on the issue.
Immediate Backlash
The new rule drew swift backlash from AI researchers around the world, particularly in China, which produces a large quantity of cutting-edge machine learning papers and is home to a growing share of the world’s top AI talent. Several academic groups there issued statements condemning the measure and, more importantly, discouraging Chinese academics from attending NeurIPS in the future. Some urged Chinese academics to contribute instead to domestic research conferences, potentially helping increase the country’s influence in relevant science and tech fields.
The China Association of Science and Technology (CAST), an influential government-affiliated organization for scientists and engineers, said Thursday that it would stop providing funding for Chinese scholars traveling to attend NeurIPS and would use the money instead to support domestic and international conferences that “respect the rights of Chinese scholars.”
CAST also said it will no longer count publications at the 2026 NeurIPS conference as academic achievements when evaluating future research funding. It’s unclear if the organization will reverse course now that NeurIPS has walked back the new rule.
At least six scholars have publicly said they turned down invitations to serve as area chairs at NeurIPS this year due to the sanctions policy. Others said they would decline to participate as paper reviewers.
“I have served as [area chair] for NeurIPS every year since 2020. Just declined,” Nan Jiang, a machine learning researcher at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, said in a social media post. “At least the organizers owe the community an explanation why they are the only major ML venue adopting such a policy.”
“That’s one less area chair responsibility for me. If I hadn’t already committed to colleagues, I wouldn’t submit a paper this year either,” wrote Yasin Abbasi-Yadkori, a researcher at the AI firm Sapient Intelligence.
Fraught Links
The controversy reflects the increasingly fraught political landscape that top researchers, many of whom have been long accustomed to collaborating with international colleagues, now have to navigate. Although progress in AI has often depended on this kind of openness, rising tensions between the US and China in recent years have significantly complicated the picture.
Thousands of Chinese scientists take part in NeurIPS annually. In 2025, roughly half of the papers presented at the event came from researchers with a Chinese academic background, according to an analysis conducted by The Economist. Tsinghua University, widely considered the top university in China, was listed on 390 NeurIPS papers, more than any other institution or company. Researchers from Alibaba also received one of the conference’s best-paper awards for work related to the company’s open source AI model Qwen.
A previous WIRED analysis shows that despite rising tensions between Washington and Beijing, US and Chinese researchers have largely continued to collaborate on work published at NeurIPS. But the latest sanctions saga could strain those ties.
“NeurIPS’ prosperity comes from the joint efforts of researchers worldwide, and its growth and success have long been supported by sponsorships from some of the sanctioned entities too,” Yuliang Xiu, an assistant professor in digital graphics at the Westlake University in China, wrote on social media, adding that he had also declined an invitation to serve as an area chair at the conference.
This is an edition of Zeyi Yang and Louise Matsakis’ Made in China newsletter. Read previous newsletters here.