China Expands AI Talent Restrictions to Families in Escalating Tech Security Crackdown

China has broadened its controls on artificial intelligence professionals in private firms to encompass the immediate family members of key executives, requiring spouses and children to obtain government approval before traveling abroad. The measure, which state agencies have recently begun enforcing, represents a significant escalation in Beijing's effort to prevent the flight of critical AI expertise and sensitive know-how to the United States during an intensifying technology competition between the two nations.