Australia’s Department of Home Affairs has revealed details of 12 cases where universities were at risk of being co-opted by foreign entities for their military research.
The document (pdf), disclosed on May 6 under a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, showed a range of incidents including the intimidation of staff and students, visa documentation fraud, and undisclosed employment in a foreign military.
In this case, titled “Foreign Military Industry Links,” an Australian university was approached by a foreign company, which specialised in cloud services and AI computing.
The foreign company offered to build an AI supercomputer at the university to serve local clients, including government departments. This company would also provide a workforce.
During the due diligence process, the university found the company was established and operated by several individuals with links to another country’s military-industrial complex.
The engagement was therefore stopped.
The potential impact of a concluded partnership would have included the transfer of sensitive research and know-how, and access to datasets containing sensitive details on critical infrastructure.
A potential consequence was that Australia could have served as a proxy to bypass U.S. sanctions and export control restrictions on semiconductors.
Successive U.S. administrations have implemented sanctions or restrictions on China-made semiconductor imports in recent years.
Prospective Student on Foreign TV Discussing Drones, AI
In another case, a foreign doctoral student researching AI learning in robots sought to join a joint PhD program.
An Australian academic initially agreed to supervise the student.
Yet after due diligence—triggered by a review of the applicant’s CV and full project description—significant issues were found.
They included undisclosed employment with a foreign government ministry, dual enrolment in separate postgraduate programs in different disciplines and countries, and frequent appearances on a state-run news channel discussing military and espionage-related technologies, such as killer robots, cyberwarfare, and AI-enabled assassinations.
