Former Google CEO and current Pentagon technical adviser Eric Schmidt stated in a recent speech at Stanford University that restrictions on hiring from China are hurting the Masters of the Universe in Silicon Valley.
Bloomberg reports that during a recent speech at Stanford University, former Google CEO and current top technical adviser to the Pentagon, Eric Schmidt discussed the effect of U.S. restrictions on hiring from China and technology sharing and how it is affecting the tech industry overall.
Schmidt stated during an event on artificial intelligence and ethics at Stanford University: “I think the China problem is solvable with the following insight: we need access to their top scientists.” Schmidt did not outright mention U.S. policies but his comments were made as the government considers placing export bans on certain technology fields including AI systems and quantum computing which would make it more difficult for American firms to hire Chinese experts.
Schmidt subtly pushed back on claims by the White House that Google has sharted technology with companies and the government in China, stating: “We also benefit from common frameworks, Tensorflow is one of them,” referencing Google’s open-source free software library for developing AI tools such as image-recognition. “It’s being used pretty much by everybody now,” Schmidt said.
During the discussion of AI, Schmidt did indeed have one criticism stating: “In China, the surveillance technology, as a technical matter is well done, has had a terrible impact. I think it’s important that we establish right here, right now that the liberal values of Stanford University, Western values, are the ones that should win.”
Schmidt has previously been critical of the Trump administration, telling Google employees in 2017 that the administration would do “evil things.” Breitbart News has previously reported that emails between Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta and campaign manager Robby Mook show that Schmidt met with Podesta and was interested in assuming the role of “head outside advisor” to the campaign.
“I met with Eric Schmidt tonight,” wrote Podesta. “As David reported, he’s ready to fund, advise recruit talent, etc. He was more deferential on structure than I expected. Wasn’t pushing to run through one of his existing firms. Clearly wants to be head outside advisor, but didn’t seem like he wanted to push others out.”
Podesta further pushes Mook to meet with Schmidt, writing, “He’s still in DC tomorrow and would like to meet with you if you are in DC in the afternoon. I think it’s worth doing. You around? If you are, and want to meet with him, maybe the four of us can get on the phone in the am. “
Podesta outlined what he and Schmidt discussed, writing, “The thing [Schmidt] really pressed me hard on was geography. Very committed to the idea that this be done in a city where young coders would want to be, preferably outer borough NYC. Thought No Cal was priced out of the market and too into itself. Thought DC lacked talent in this arena.”
Google as a company has also been accused of working with the Clinton campaign. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange claimed that Google as a company was “directly engaged” in the campaign. Specifically, Assange claimed, “The chairman of Google, Eric Schmidt, set up a company to run the digital component of Hillary Clinton’s campaign.”
Eric Schmidt did, in fact, create a company in the last quarter of 2015 called The Groundwork whose website is empty except for a single placeholder logo. Breitbart has previously reported on The Groundwork and how it was reportedly developed to install Clinton in the Oval Office.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or email him at lnolan@breitbart.com
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