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Controversy over attendance at the 2026 NeurIPS meeting reflects a growing divide in artificial-intelligence research between the two nations.Credit: Marciobnws\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n
A key Chinese research organization is set to boycott the prestigious NeurIPS conference, which is run by a US-based non-profit organization, after a row over a policy that initially seemed to exclude many Chinese researchers.<\/p>\n
NeurIPS later apologized and watered down the policy. But the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) is standing by its decision to no longer pay for researchers to attend the conference and to discount NeurIPS papers in crucial researcher evaluations.<\/p>\n
The controversy reflects a growing divide in artificial intelligence (AI) research between the two nations, say analysts. CAST\u2019s decision might be \u201csignalling that China can increasingly stand on its own feet when it comes to advanced AI research\u201d, says Rebecca Arcesati, who studies AI policy at the Mercator Institute for China Studies in Brussels. \u201cThis is their way of showing that if Chinese talent isn\u2019t appreciated and welcome to these gatherings, then China will do things more on its own,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Last year, for the first time, the largest share of first authors of papers at the NeurIPS conference, which was held in December in San Diego, California, was made up of China-based researchers. A 2025 study by the London-based firm Digital Science<\/a> showed that China already publishes the greatest number of AI papers by volume and has a talent pool that \u201cdwarfs its rivals\u201d. (Digital Science is operated by the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, which has a share in Nature\u2019s publisher, Springer Nature.)<\/p>\n Without Chinese participation, \u201cNeurIPS would be devastated\u201d, says William Hannas, a China specialist at Georgetown University\u2019s Center for Security and Emerging Technology in Washington DC. It remains unclear how many researchers will actually boycott NeurIPS, given the organizers\u2019 U-turn since the original announcement. But if all Chinese researchers withdrew papers that they co-authored, \u201cthe event would, frankly, be gutted\u201d, he says.<\/p>\n Conference controversy<\/p>\n The controversy began on 23 March, when NeurIPS said that the organizers of this year\u2019s conference, to be held from 6 to 12 December with Sydney, Australia, as its main location, would reject papers submitted by researchers associated with \u201cUS-sanctioned\u201d institutions. The organizers provided a link to a US government web page that listed prominent Chinese technology firms, including previous conference sponsor Huawei, headquartered in Shenzhen.<\/p>\n
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