Senate Intelligence Committee chair Tom Cotton and House Energy and Commerce Committee chair Brett Guthrie have asked the administration to examine the activities of Neville Singham, an American living in Shanghai who is reported to be coordinating a group of US nonprofit organisations to oppose artificial intelligence and data‑centre projects.
Alleged Chinese influence
The Bitcoin Policy Institute released a report that describes Singham’s network as producing publications that quote officials of the Chinese Communist Party and portray US data‑centres as a security threat. The report links the nonprofits to the Party for Socialism and Liberation, a US political party that has campaigned against data‑centre construction in several cities.
Tricontinental, a think‑tank based in Massachusetts and part of Singham’s network, has issued papers asserting that US export restrictions on advanced semiconductors act as a choke‑point for China’s technological development. The New York Times has reported that China cultivates propaganda outlets and individuals such as Singham to create an organic bloom of far‑left groups that repeat Chinese government talking points.
Political response
Cotton has characterised Singham as a Marxist and accused him of advancing anti‑American policies. Both Cotton and Guthrie have called for the use of congressional subpoena authority to question leaders of the nonprofits and to investigate further.
Sam Lyman, the author of the Bitcoin Policy Institute report, urged Congress to employ its subpoena powers to interrogate the heads of Singham’s organisations and to pursue a deeper inquiry.
Connections within the network
Brian Becker, a co‑founder of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, hosts a podcast on BreakThroughNews, a platform funded by Singham. His son Ben Becker serves as editor‑in‑chief of the party’s publication Liberation.
The situation is described as having major implications for the technological competition between the United States and China and for US artificial‑intelligence initiatives, at a time when the United States has implemented strict export controls on advanced semiconductor chips and lawmakers are urging additional measures to stop China from obtaining a technological advantage.