Transcript of Representative André Carson’s Opening Statement from Hearing on China’s Campaign to Steal America’s AI Edge

WASHINGTON - The House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party held a hearing titled China's Campaign to Steal America's AI Edge.

The following witnesses provided testimony:

• Dr. Kyle Chan, Fellow, Brookings Institution
• Mr. Dmitri Alperovitch, Chairman, Silverado Policy Accelerator
• Mr. Yusuf Mahmood, Director of AI and Emerging Technology, America First Policy Institute

Below is a transcript of the opening statement from Representative André Carson (IN-07), who led the start of today's hearing alongside Chairman John Moolenaar (MI-02). Footage of Representative Carson's opening statement can be found here.

Thank you Mr. Chairman. You're appreciated very dearly, thank you. And thank you to the witnesses for appearing before the Committee today.

Last year, the Select Committee held a very important hearing on "Why American AI Must Lead." It was very clear from that hearing that the stakes of the AI competition with China could not be higher.

If Chinese AI models win, we face a future filled with censorship and surveillance. Not to mention, in the key industries of the future - including sectors like manufacturing and biotechnology that drive Indiana's economy - we will fall behind.

But if American AI models keeps its lead, the American people will get to decide on the rules of the road. We can enact protections for workers against displacement, ensure communities do not face hikes to their utility bills, and ensure civil rights and human rights are designed into the algorithms.

China understands these stakes very well. That's why the CCP will stop at no lengths to win this competition.

Just last week, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google all came together to form the Frontier Model Forum - a joint effort to stop China's campaign to reverse engineer their AI models.

And just last month, the Department of Justice indicted individuals for trying to smuggle restricted chips to China.

We should all be deeply concerned by how far Chinese companies are wiling to go to gain an edge, even if it means breaking the law.

But we should also remember why China wants to get our technologies in the first place. It's because American technologies - built by talented engineers from around the world, often with the support of federal funding - are simply better.

Unfortunately, the Trump Administration's immigration policies, budgetary cuts, and attacks on leading AI labs are putting us on a path where we can't take advantage of anything, nor can we take anything for granted.

Nearly two-thirds of the top AI companies in America were founded or co-founded by immigrants. That's what's great about our country. 38 percent of the top AI researchers in America are originally from China.

Anyone who hears those statistics and uses common sense knows we need those immigrants. We should welcome them and reject wholeheartedly any form of xenophobia.

But instead, unfortunately, this Administration is banning immigration from dozens of countries, putting a $100,000 fee on the H1-B visas that AI researchers frequently use, and scaring away students with ICE raids.

The scorecard on federal research funding - the foundation on which so much American innovation depends - is a similar story. We're slashing federal grants to universities - including colleges like IU Indy and Purdue - as China increases overall scientific research spending by nearly 10% annually.

Meanwhile, the Defense Department is trying to put one of our leading AI labs out of business because of a contract dispute. Killing Claude doesn't help us beat China. That sounds to me like benching one of our top scorers in a championship game.

If we keep down this path, I fear that ten years from now we may not have as many technologies that China wants to take.

That means we need a two-pronged approach. Firstly, I agree wholeheartedly we need to enforce our laws and protect our advantages.

Chinese companies like DeepSeek cannot and should not get away with stealing our most innovative tech. The Commerce Department should go after those who break laws and break the rules with everything they've got.

And it shouldn't just be us holding China accountable. We need a global coalition. We should work with our friends in the Netherlands and Japan to protect sensitive IP in areas like lithography. Now, we're all in this competition together.

But secondly, we also need to make sure our technology remains the best. We need to attract top talent, train the next generation of workers, and keep America's innovation engines running. The easiest way for China to win is if we shoot ourselves in the foot.

The future of AI must be built on American values - and not the CCP's dystopian vision of censorship and surveillance. I believe we can keep our edge and win the future if we get to work. Thank you.