Foreign Affairs

British Intelligence Accuses China Of Spying On UK’s AI Research

sebastiandoe5, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

British security officials warned that a Chinese research body is funding academic work that aids Beijing’s spy agency.

Britain’s MI5 security service on Wednesday named the China General Technology Research Institute (CGTRI) as a funder of work by more than 100 academics based in the UK, including artificial intelligence research, according to an espionage alert the agency published. The service said CGTRI is closely tied to China’s civilian spy agency — the Ministry of State Security (MSS) — and exists mainly to bankroll research that sharpens that agency’s technical tools.

“MI5 has identified that the primary purpose of CGTRI is to fund academic research that directly improves MSS technical capability for espionage,” the alert stated in part.

U.K. academics have contributed to CGTRI-funded projects on artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, covert communications systems and steganography, according to the MI5 alert. The agency said some universities and researchers likely did not know CGTRI’s link to Chinese intelligence when they took the money, Reuters reported.

Researchers who keep working with the institute could be prosecuted under Britain’s National Security Act, a 2023 law aimed at foreign spying and hostile state activity, MI5 warned.

MI5 said it had not issued a public espionage alert like this on its own before, Reuters reported.

U.K. Security Minister Dan Jarvis urged every British university to cut ties with the institute.

“This alert exposes attempts by Chinese intelligence to covertly benefit from the expertise and research of our academics, undermining our national security, and that of our allies,” Jarvis said, Reuters reported. “International partnerships are vital to ensure our universities and research institutes continue to thrive, but we will take robust action to defend against the threats we face.”

Britain’s Home Office and the Chinese Embassy in London each did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

Chinese state actors pose a threat to Britain’s national security “every day,” MI5 Director-General Ken McCallum told reporters after his annual speech on Oct. 16, 2025, Reuters reported.

Parliament received an MI5 espionage alert in Nov. 2025 after the service said China’s intelligence service was approaching lawmakers and staff through fake recruiters and front companies, according to the BBC.

The Five Eyes intelligence alliance — made up of the U.S., Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand — warned in a June 3 press release that Chinese military intelligence was using professional networking and job sites to target people with access to classified information.

On June 4, China’s London Embassy claimed the warning was “entirely fabricated and constitutes malicious slander.”

London approved a “mega” Chinese embassy in January, according to the Associated Press.

U.S. officials have raised similar concerns about Chinese access to university research.

The Pentagon ordered dozens of American universities to audit their foreign research ties in August. Similarly, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party and the House Education and the Workforce Committee accused Harvard University of failing to safeguard research ties with Chinese military-linked institutions in an Aug. 13 report.