NeurIPS Reverses Sanctions Policy After Backlash

Organizers of the Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems, widely known as NeurIPS, reversed a controversial policy update on Friday after it sparked widespread backlash from Chinese researchers and professional associations. The top global AI research event, set for December in Sydney, had initially announced restrictions in its mid-March handbook for the 2026 conference that would bar submissions from entities on broad U.S. sanctions lists, affecting major Chinese firms such as Huawei and Tencent.

The policy change stemmed from the NeurIPS Foundation's effort to comply with U.S. federal laws and trade regulations, according to organizers. It referenced a government database including the Bureau of Industry and Security's entity list and organizations with alleged ties to the Chinese military, alongside entities from countries like Russia and Iran. This would have excluded researchers affiliated with those groups from peer review, editing, publishing, and participation, even though no such academic rules exist under U.S. law. Organizers later clarified the restrictions apply only to the Treasury Department's Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons list,...