Microsoft relocating artificial intelligence staff from China to Vancouver | Daily Hive

Microsoft moving artificial intelligence researchers from China to Vancouver: report

Microsoft Canada offices at CF Pacific Centre in downtown Vancouver. (Sergei Bachlakov/Shutterstock)

Microsoft has reportedly begun the process of moving its top artificial intelligence researchers from China to Vancouver.

According to a new report in the United Kingdom’s Financial Times, as many as dozens of people currently working in artificial intelligence in Beijing will be relocated. It is suggested that this is a measure by Microsoft to reduce the risk of talent being poached by Chinese companies or their employees being harassed by government officials.

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Microsoft Research Asia, which is based in Beijing, has reportedly already started the process of seeking Canadian visas to move artificial intelligence experts to Vancouver.

Researchers told the Financial Times this move is dubbed the “Vancouver Plan,” and it is a strategy that attempts to mitigate the impacts of the worsening political tensions between China and the United States, as well as other Western countries.

There has been a heightened race to make further inroads into artificial intelligence, especially after OpenAI’s launch of the now highly popular AI-powered ChatGPT platform in late 2022, with Microsoft holding a very significant financial stake in the company and its innovations.

Vancouver’s reputation as a global hub for artificial intelligence has been growing, along with its other emerging tech strengths in augmented and virtual reality. Japan’s Fujitsu also recently opened its global headquarters for artificial intelligence in downtown Vancouver’s Bentall complex.

Daily Hive Venture has reached out to Microsoft for comment on this story.

There were already major signs that Microsoft had major plans to grow its operations in Vancouver. Daily Hive Urbanized also previously exclusively reported Microsoft is making a major office space expansion in downtown Vancouver, with the company set to occupy 400,000 sq ft of office space across 20 floors in the new B6 office tower at 1090 West Pender Street, which will have a total of 562,000 sq ft of office space across 33 floors. B6 will reach completion later this year.

This is in addition to Microsoft’s existing office locations in downtown Vancouver at CF Pacific Centre, Gastown, and Yaletown.

2019 artistic rendering of 1090 West Pender Street, Vancouver. (Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership/Bentall Kennedy)

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