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China now requires government approval before top AI professionals at Alibaba and DeepSeek — including founders, researchers, and senior executives — can travel overseas. The policy, reported by Bloomberg on May 26, 2026, marks a significant escalation: previously, private-sector AI staff had to report travel plans, but advance sign-off was not always required. Neither company has commented.
What Changed — and What Was Already in Place
Before this policy, some AI engineers in China's private sector were already required to report overseas travel plans to authorities. That reporting requirement did not always mean getting formal approval before the trip. The change Bloomberg described on May 26 is the shift from notification to prior approval — a meaningful tightening of control over who can leave and when.
The restrictions target three groups: startup founders, researchers working on advanced AI, and senior executives at firms considered strategically important to China's national technology goals. They do not appear to apply to ordinary employees. The Wall Street Journal had previously reported that Chinese authorities told top AI founders and researchers to avoid visiting the United States — but stopped short of an outright prohibition. This move goes further.
Beijing has long maintained travel restrictions on individuals in state-adjacent sensitive roles — nuclear scientists, senior executives at state-owned enterprises, and university researchers with classified affiliations. The extension of these controls into the private sector is the new development. It suggests Beijing now views private-sector AI talent as equivalent in strategic sensitivity to people working in controlled government programs.
Why Alibaba and DeepSeek Specifically
Alibaba and DeepSeek represent two of China's most significant AI efforts. Alibaba's Qwen model family has posted competitive benchmark results internationally, and the company has been one of the most prolific open-source AI contributors in China. DeepSeek generated significant international attention in early 2025 when it released models claiming frontier performance at a fraction of the compute cost of comparable US models — a claim that was widely discussed and partially validated, accelerating concerns in Washington about China's AI trajectory.
Bloomberg had previously reported that some DeepSeek executives faced travel restrictions as far back as December 2025 — before this broader expansion. Separately, the co-founders of Manus, a Chinese AI startup that later relocated to Singapore, were also reportedly barred from overseas travel earlier this year. The pattern suggests Beijing has been incrementally tightening controls on AI talent over several months, with the Alibaba/DeepSeek Bloomberg report representing the most visible escalation yet.
Chinese regulators also blocked Meta's planned $2 billion acquisition of Manus earlier in 2026. The thread connecting these moves — the Manus acquisition block, travel restrictions on DeepSeek executives, and now this broader expansion — is a consistent policy of retaining China's AI talent and technology inside China.
What It Means for the Global AI Race
International AI research depends heavily on mobility. The major AI conferences — NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR — draw researchers from every major lab. Open-source contribution, joint papers, and hiring all require that researchers can travel freely to meet collaborators, attend events, and build professional networks. Restricting that mobility does not just inconvenience the affected individuals — it structurally reduces the rate at which Chinese AI researchers can participate in the global scientific community.
The counterargument from Beijing's perspective is straightforward: the US has been using export controls on advanced chips, equipment, and software to slow China's AI development. Travel restrictions on key researchers are a mirror measure — keeping China's human capital inside China in the same way the US tries to keep advanced hardware out.
The risk Beijing is managing is real. Researchers who feel their careers are being constrained by restrictions may choose to exit before the window closes further — taking their expertise to companies or countries with fewer controls. Analysts have flagged this as a secondary effect worth watching: a slowdown in published research output from the affected companies, or a reduction in their participation at international AI conferences, would be early signals that the policy is producing the brain drain it is designed to prevent.
What We Know and Do Not Know
| Question |
Status |
| Are all Alibaba and DeepSeek employees affected? |
No — restricted to founders, researchers, and senior executives in advanced AI |
| Which government body issues approval? |
Not named in Bloomberg report; Ministry of Industry and Information Technology did not respond to comment requests |
| Have Alibaba or DeepSeek confirmed the policy? |
No — neither company responded to requests for comment |
| Is this linked to the Manus case? |
Sources told Bloomberg it is not necessarily directly linked, though preventing technology leaks is a stated policy goal |
| Does it apply to all Chinese AI companies? |
Not confirmed — report names Alibaba and DeepSeek specifically; broader scope unknown |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is China blocking all AI researchers from leaving the country?
No. The restrictions target specific individuals — founders, researchers, and senior executives at firms considered strategically important. Ordinary employees at Alibaba and DeepSeek are not reported to be affected. The scope beyond the two named companies is not yet confirmed.
How does this compare to US AI export controls?
US controls target hardware — advanced chips and chip-making equipment — preventing China from acquiring the compute needed to train frontier models. China's travel restrictions target human capital, keeping researchers and executives physically inside the country. Both are asymmetric levers in the same geopolitical competition. Neither fully compensates for what the other side gains from its own measures.
What happened with DeepSeek executives before this Bloomberg report?
Bloomberg had previously reported that some DeepSeek executives faced travel restrictions as early as December 2025. The May 26 report represents a broadening of those controls to include Alibaba and, by implication, a wider set of private-sector AI professionals considered strategically important.
What is the Manus connection?
Manus is a Chinese AI agent startup whose co-founders were reportedly barred from overseas travel earlier in 2026. The company subsequently relocated to Singapore. Chinese regulators also blocked Meta's planned $2 billion acquisition of Manus. Sources told Bloomberg the latest travel restrictions are not necessarily directly linked to the Manus situation, but the thread of technology retention policy is consistent.