Chinese AI company Manus has laid out its plans to operate as an independent company following the reversal of its acquisition by Meta.
The US social media company agreed to buy Manus last year but Chinese regulators quickly opened an investigation into the deal, as they were concerned that it violated Chinese export controls. In April, China’s National Development and Reform Commission blocked the purchase.
Manus will now revert to being an independent company and to meet with regulatory requirements must delete some user data collected while it was part of Meta, it said Tuesday.
The failure of the deal illustrates the problems that US and Chinese companies are having as they attempt to build a hold on the AI market.
While regulatory authorities in China don’t want Manus under US ownership, US authorities are equally suspicious of China’s role in AI development. The US administration fired a warning shot this March by unveiling a new cybersecurity policy, a move which was prompted by suspected Chinese involvement in a cyber-attack on the FBI. Also in March, the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission warned that Chinese use of open-source AI tools could lead to an economic advantage that the US couldn’t counter through regulation. And last year, US and Chinese authorities played a cat-and-mouse game over Nvidia chip exports.
Customers of AI vendors in both countries may need to be wary about future cross-border acquisitions as the two superpowers jostle for a technological lead.