China is struggling to recruit foreign AI researchers despite its push for self-reliant artificial intelligence, the New York Times reports. For every 30 Chinese AI researchers in the United States in 2025, only one made the opposite journey.

The figures show a lopsided talent flow. China now hosts 41 per cent of top AI researchers by a NeurIPS measure, up from 27 per cent in 2022. The US share fell from 46 per cent to 34 per cent over the same period.

Yet foreign recruits stay away. Researchers cite language barriers, worries about academic freedom and geopolitical tensions as reasons for not moving to China. At DeepSeek, one of China’s leading AI labs, 53.5 per cent of affiliated authors had never studied or worked outside China.

The talent gap matters because AI leadership depends on people as much as money. Beijing has poured funding into labs and chips, but breakthroughs still cluster where top researchers choose to work.

The report suggests China’s AI rise is real but uneven. It can train strong home-grown talent, yet it still struggles to attract the global researchers who drive the field forward.