iFlytek
Company typePublic; State-owned enterprise
SZSE: 002230
IndustryInformation technology
Founded1999; 25 years ago (1999)
Headquarters
Hefei, Anhui
,
China
Area served
speech synthesis, speech recognition and natural language processing
OwnerChina Mobile
Websitewww.iflytek.com Edit this at Wikidata

iFlytek (Chinese: 科大讯飞; pinyin: Kēdà Xùnfēi), styled as iFLYTEK, is a partially state-owned Chinese information technology company established in 1999.[1] It creates voice recognition software and 10+ voice-based internet/mobile products covering education, communication, music, intelligent toys industries.[2] State-owned enterprise China Mobile is the company's largest shareholder.[3] The company is listed in the Shenzhen Stock Exchange with market capitalization at 25 billion RMB and it is backed by several state-owned investment funds.[4][5]

The company was spun off from University of Science and Technology of China.[6]: 128 

The city of Hefei is a major investor in iFlytek.[6]: 128 

In 2017, Human Rights Watch reported the Chinese government had collected tens of thousands of voice samples, for use with iFlytek technology that identifies individuals by voice on phone calls or in public places.[7]

In 2018, iFlytek signed a five-year collaboration agreement with the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.[8] In 2020, the agreement was terminated due to concerns about human rights abuses of Uyghurs in Xinjiang.[9] In October 2023, the stock value of iFlytek fell after its AI-powered devices were reported to have criticized Mao Zedong.[10]

U.S. sanctions

See also: Uyghur genocide and Xinjiang internment camps

In October 2019, iFlytek was sanctioned by the United States for allegedly using its technology for surveillance and human rights abuses in Xinjiang.[11][12][2]

See also

References

  1. ^ Ben Chiang (23 March 2012). "iFlytek Announces All New Voice Cloud and Siri-like Product". TechNode. Archived from the original on 1 December 2012. Retrieved 2012-08-24. Note: byline reads "Ben Jiang", but author webpage URL lists last name as "Chiang".
  2. ^ a b Hvistendahl, Mara (May 18, 2020). "How a Chinese AI Giant Made Chatting—and Surveillance—Easy". Wired. Archived from the original on May 18, 2020. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
  3. ^ Harney, Alexandra (June 13, 2019). "Risky partner: Top U.S. universities took funds from Chinese firm tied to Xinjiang security". Reuters. Archived from the original on November 9, 2019. Retrieved November 9, 2019.
  4. ^ Mark Lee (2012-08-24). "China Mobile to Acquire 15% of Voice-Recognition Company". Bloomberg Businessweek. Bloomberg L.P. Archived from the original on 2013-01-18. Retrieved 2012-08-24.
  5. ^ Dai, Sarah (July 17, 2019). "China's voice recognition champion iFlytek gets US$407 million funding boost from state investors". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on November 9, 2019. Retrieved November 9, 2019.
  6. ^ a b Hu, Richard (2023). Reinventing the Chinese City. New York: Columbia University Press. doi:10.7312/hu--21100. ISBN 978-0-231-21101-7.
  7. ^ "China: Voice Biometric Collection Threatens Privacy". Human Rights Watch. 2017-10-22. Retrieved 2023-08-30.
  8. ^ Conner-Simons, Adam (June 15, 2018). "CSAIL launches new five-year collaboration with iFlyTek". MIT News. Archived from the original on September 28, 2019. Retrieved November 9, 2019.
  9. ^ Knight, Will (2020-04-21). "MIT Cuts Ties With a Chinese AI Firm Amid Human Rights Concerns". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Archived from the original on 2020-04-21. Retrieved 2020-04-22.
  10. ^ Ye, Josh (October 24, 2023). "Shares in China's iFlyTek tumble after reports AI-powered device criticised Mao". Reuters. Retrieved January 9, 2024.
  11. ^ "US sanctions 8 China tech companies over role in Xinjiang abuses". The Nikkei. Reuters. October 8, 2019. Archived from the original on November 9, 2019. Retrieved November 9, 2019.
  12. ^ Strumpf, Dan; Kubota, Yoko (October 8, 2019). "Expanded U.S. Trade Blacklist Hits Beijing's Artificial-Intelligence Ambitions". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on November 8, 2019. Retrieved November 9, 2019.

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