I did a deep dive on iFlytek, the Chinese AI company with a bunch of neat consumer products that is helping the authorities identify people by the sound of their voice.
iFlytek was once a darling of the western tech press. Until February, @MIT_CSAIL had a major partnership with the company. This continued even after @hrw published a critical report detailing iFlytek's work building a national voiceprint database -- & its work in Xinjiang.
Back in the 1990s, tech companies were focused on finding a better Chinese input method. Liu Qingfeng, iFlytek's co-founder and CEO, was inspired by the success of this IBM product. It stung that a foreign company had made strides toward conquering the Chinese language. 
“Voice is the foundation of culture and the symbol of a nation,” Liu told an interviewer. “Many people thought that they”—meaning foreign companies—“had us by the throat."
iFlytek started by developed call center technology for Huawei. Later it moved into consumer products. I spent a few months playing around with these, and they're quite good. The translation tools work with major world languages, 23 Chinese dialects, and, er, Tibetan and Uyghur.
iFlytek has done a lot of work in Xinjiang and Tibet. It cofounded a lab at Tibet University that focuses on speech and information technology. It also makes a dedicated Tibetan input app. The company says this is about preserving Tibetan culture. 🧐xizang.gov.cn/xwzx_406/bmkx/…
iFlytek has signed a cooperation agreement with the agency that operates prisons in Xinjiang. And it's helping Kashgar University ensure "safe and stable operation" in a "multiethnic" environment.
@hrw detailed other government projects here. The most disturbing contracts involve the sale of voiceprint terminals, which are used to identify speakers by the sound of their voices. hrw.org/news/2017/10/2…
China is not the only state to employ voiceprint recognition. The NSA has long used it to monitor targets. The BOP uses it to monitor prisoners' phone calls. What's disconcerting is how eagerly western institutions partnered with iFlytek in exchange for data or money.
One graduate student at MIT told me that when he objected to being funded by iFlytek on moral grounds, the institution told him that he could find other funding for his work.
In November, the Commerce Department added iFlytek to the Entity List, citing its work in Xinjiang. The Trump administration has an atrocious record when it comes to human rights, but this is one move that makes sense.
iFlytek's earnings have since taken a hit. And yet, tech companies around the world are profiting off the pandemic. iFlytek may well come out on top. technode.com/2020/02/10/ifl…
Thank you to @wang_maya @SophieHRW @EBKania @He_Shumei @jjding99 @MIT_SAW @hpeaks @roger_p_levy and others for help and to @vtitunik for a thoughtful edit. wired.com/story/iflytek-…
