HUAWEI

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Huawei’s portfolio of artificial intelligence (AI) products and services include AI-powered smart devices, intelligent computing, and Network AI (a cloud platform for AI application development), among others. It allocates significant resources to research and development activities, while also making some of its resources available to developers.

Some of Huawei’s activities in the field of AI are dedicated to leveraging the potential of AI to benefit the society. Under the AI for Good programme, the company is running projects such as Track Ai (aimed to develop devices that could help professionals to identify children with visual disorders as soon as possible) and Facing Emotions (an app that uses AI to allow visually impaired people to ‘see’ the emotion of the face of someone they are talking to).

Huawei publishes white papers on various AI-related issues, such as AI security and industrial AI development.

Various Huawei’s AI-based solutions – including facial recognition technology (FRT) and public safety solutions – are used by public institutions and law enforcement agencies (LEAs) in China and around the world. The company prides itself on providing public safety technologies to help LEAs predict, prevent, and reduce crime, and address new and emerging threats.

A report published by Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in 2019 argues that Huawei provides AI surveillance technology to at least 50 countries worldwide. While the report does not make a distinction between legitimate and unlawful use of AI surveillance tools, Huawei has on several occasions been at the centre of criticisms over the use of its AI tools in breach of human rights. For instance, when authorities in Belgrade, Serbia, deployed Huawei FRT-powered street cameras to help reduce crime, critics argued that the technology eroded human rights and individual freedoms; in response, authorities denied any abuse, while Huawei indicated that it had complied with all applicable laws and regulations in Serbia and all other countries where it provides services.

Huawei is actively supporting China’s ambitions to become a world leader in AI. The company is part of the national AI team created by the Chinese government to support the implementation of its AI development strategy. Huawei’s task within the team is to advance research on AI infrastructure and software.

In June 2019, Bloomberg revealed that several Huawei employees had collaborated with Chinese armed forces on AI research projects. However, the company declared that it does not have any research and development (R&D) collaboration or partnership with military institutions and that it does not customise R&D products for the military.

5G

Huawei is at the forefront of technological development in 5G equipment, its goals being to build a thriving 5G ecosystem and make it a commercial success.

Huawei is deploying 5G solutions in various countries around the world, having concluded over 50 5G commercial contracts by September 2019. However, concerns have been raised by the USA and other countries over the potential misuse of Huawei’s 5G equipment to the benefit of the Chinese government. The US State Department argues that Huawei is a threat to national security, as the company can install backdoors to its equipment and unlawfully collect information for China. It notes that ‘Huawei cannot be trusted to tell the truth or protect the interests of others and it should not be trusted with the vital security of 5G networks.’ Huawei rejects such accusations: ‘As for security, no Huawei customer has ever experienced a major cybersecurity breach, and no evidence exists that Huawei has ever been compromised by the Chinese government or any other actors.’

In addition to the USA, countries that have excluded Huawei from national 5G roll-out plans are Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and Thailand. Several other countries (such as Canada, France, and Germany) have been exploring potential security risks associated with the use of Huawei’s 5G equipment. Some of them have indicated that they would strengthen the requirements for companies contracted to provide 5G solutions, without specifically imposing direct bans on Huawei. And yet other countries, such as Brazil and Russia, have made it clear that they do not intend to limit Huawei’s role in 5G deployment. Issues related to Huawei and 5G security have also made it onto the agendas of organisations such as NATO and EU institutions.

INTERNET OF THINGS

Huawei provides a wide range of Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, ranging from smart parking and smart street lamps, to smart buildings and homes and connected vehicles.

Huawei’s smart city applications are deployed all over the world. The company says that it has built more than 160 smart cities in over 100 countries and regions. For instance, in Longgang, a district of Shenzhen, China, Huawei built a smart city ecosystem enabling ‘intelligent infrastructure, efficient and collaborative government productivity, convenient public services, refined social management, liveable urban environments, and high-end industry development’. With the help of Huawei, the City of Ekurhuleni in South Africa developed a smart city that benefits from ‘city-wide wired and wireless networks, powerful cloud data centers, and centralized government applications’.

The Chinese company is also providing safe city solutions, where IoT and artificial technology (AI) technologies are often combined to help authorities ‘predict, prevent, and reduce crime, and address new and emerging threats’.

Although Huawei has stated numerous times that it respects the laws and regulations in all cities and countries where it operates, the smart and safe city solutions it provides are on certain occasions fuelling criticisms over their potential use in violation of human rights. For instance, civil rights activists in Africa are concerned that the deployment of Huawei’s safe city solutions in countries such as Uganda and Ethiopia threaten human rights, as authorities are likely to use them for surveillance purposes. Huawei officials stated this time. too. that it does not control how authorities use the solutions it provides: ‘Huawei does not manage, use or have access to any of our systems ‒ we only sell them to the customer and train them how to use it. It is up to individual countries to set their own policies, regulations and laws to govern how such systems are used, and for their legal systems to ensure implementation.’

QUANTUM COMPUTING

Huawei is conducting research and development in quantum computing. It has developed the HiQ platform which includes a quantum computing simulator and a quantum programming framework to enable research in this field. The platform can be used by developers, researchers, and students to innovate and conduct research into quantum computing technology.

Huawei is also exploring issues related to post-quantum cryptography, to equip itself with the proper technology for the eventuality in which quantum computing will be able to break currently used symmetric-key encryption algorithms. The company intends to introduce quantum-safe algorithms into its products, to ensure their long-term security. It also works to develop quantum cryptography, often in co-operation with other entities. For instance, in 2018, Huawei and Telefonica announced they had conducted a successful trial of quantum cryptography on commercial optical networks. If Huawei succeeds in developing quantum cryptography, this could pose a major challenge to government intelligence services which employ eavesdropping techniques in their work.