Microsoft said on Tuesday that it would make a $1.5 billion investment in G42, an artificial intelligence giant in the United Arab Emirates, in a deal largely orchestrated by the Biden administration to box out China as Washington and Beijing battle over who will exercise technological influence in the Persian Gulf region and beyond.

微软周二表示将向阿拉伯联合酋长国的人工智能巨头G42投资15亿美元，这项交易主要由拜登政府精心策划，在华盛顿和北京争夺谁将在波斯湾和其他地区发挥技术影响力之际，该交易旨在将中国排除在外。

Under the partnership, Microsoft will give G42 permission to sell Microsoft services that use powerful A.I. chips, which are used to train and fine-tune generative A.I. models. In return, G42, which has been under scrutiny by Washington for its ties to China, will use Microsoft’s cloud services and accede to a security arrangement negotiated in detailed conversations with the U.S. government. It places a series of protections on the A.I. products shared with G42 and includes an agreement to strip Chinese gear out of G42’s operations, among other steps.

根据合作协议，微软将允许G42销售使用强大人工智能芯片的微软服务，这些芯片用于训练和微调人工智能生成模型。作为回报，因与中国的关系而受到华盛顿审查的G42将使用微软的云服务，并遵守与美国政府详细谈判达成的安全协议。该协议对与G42共享的人工智能产品设置了一系列保护措施，还包括同意将中国设备从G42的运营中剥离。

“When it comes to emerging technology, you cannot be both in China’s camp and our camp,” said Gina Raimondo, the commerce secretary, who traveled twice to the Emirates to talk about security arrangements for this and other partnerships.

美国商务部长吉娜·雷蒙多表示：“在新兴技术方面，你不可能既站在中国的阵营，又站在我们的阵营。”她曾两次前往阿联酋，商讨这一伙伴关系和其他伙伴关系的安全安排。

The accord is highly unusual, Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president, said in an interview, reflecting the U.S. government’s extraordinary concern about protecting the intellectual property behind A.I. programs.

微软公司总裁布拉德·史密斯在接受采访时说，这项协议极不寻常，反映了美国政府对保护人工智能程序背后的知识产权的格外关注。

“The U.S. is quite naturally concerned that the most important technology is guarded by a trusted U.S. company,” said Mr. Smith, who will take a seat on G42’s board.

史密斯说：“美国自然希望由一家值得信赖的美国公司来保护最重要的技术。”他将进入G42董事会。

The investment could help the United States push back against China’s rising influence in the gulf region. If the moves succeed, G42 will be brought into the U.S. fold and pare back its ties with China. The deal could also become a model for how U.S. firms leverage their technological leadership in A.I. to lure countries away from Chinese tech, while reaping huge financial awards.

这项投资有助于美国回击中国在海湾地区不断上升的影响力。如果这一步取得成功，G42将被纳入美国阵营，并减少与中国的联系。这笔交易还可能成为美国公司如何利用其在人工智能领域的技术领先地位吸引其他国家放弃中国技术，同时获得巨额经济回报的典范。

But the matter is sensitive, as U.S. officials have raised questions about G42. This year, a congressional committee wrote a letter urging the Commerce Department to look into whether G42 should be put under trade restrictions for its ties to China, which include partnerships with Chinese firms and employees who came from government-connected companies.

但此事十分敏感，因为美国官员对G42提出了质疑。今年，美国国会的一个委员会写信敦促商务部调查是否应该对G42实施贸易限制，因为它与中国有联系，包括与中国公司合作，有员工来自与政府有联系的公司。

In an interview, Ms. Raimondo, who has been at the center of an effort to prevent China from obtaining the most advanced semiconductors and the equipment to make them, said the agreement “does not authorize the transfer of artificial intelligence, or A.I. models, or GPUs” — the processors needed to develop A.I. applications — and “assures those technologies can be safely developed, protected and deployed.”

雷蒙多一直在努力阻止中国获得最先进的半导体及其制造设备，她在接受采访时说，该协议“没有授权转让人工智能或AI模型或GPU”——开发AI应用所需的处理器——并“确保这些技术可以安全地开发、保护和部署”。

While the Emirates and United States did not sign a separate accord, Ms. Raimondo said, “We have been extensively briefed and we are comfortable that this agreement is consistent with our values.”

虽然阿联酋和美国没有签署单独的协议，但雷蒙多称：“我们已经听取了广泛的情况介绍，我们确信这项协议符合我们的价值观。”

In a statement, Peng Xiao, the group chief executive of G42, said that “through Microsoft’s strategic investment, we are advancing our mission to deliver cutting-edge A.I. technologies at scale.”

G42集团首席执行官肖鹏（音）在一份声明中表示：“通过微软的战略投资，我们正在推进大规模交付尖端人工智能技术的使命。”

The United States and China have been racing to exert technological influence in the Persian Gulf, where hundreds of billions of dollars are up for grabs and major investors, including Saudi Arabia, are expected to spend billions on the technology. In the rush to diversify away from oil, many leaders in the region have set their sights on A.I. — and have been happy to play the United States and China off each other.

美国和中国一直竞相在波斯湾施加技术影响力，那里有数千亿美元的资金可供争夺，包括沙特阿拉伯在内的大投资者预计将在这项技术上投入数十亿美元。在急于从石油资源转向多元化过程中，该地区的许多领导人将目光投向了人工智能，并乐意让美国和中国相互博弈。

Although the United Arab Emirates is an important U.S. diplomatic and intelligence partner, and one of the largest buyers of American weapons, it has increasingly expanded its military and economic ties with China. A portion of its domestic surveillance system is built on Chinese technology and its telecommunications work on hardware from Huawei, a Chinese supplier. That has fed the worries of U.S. officials, who often visit the Persian Gulf nation to discuss security issues.

虽然阿联酋是美国重要的外交和情报合作伙伴，也是美国武器的最大买家之一，但它与中国的军事和经济联系日益渐长。其国内监控系统部分采用了中国技术，电信业务使用的硬件来自中国供应商华为。这引起了美国官员的担忧，他们经常访问这个波斯湾国家讨论安全问题。

But U.S. officials are also concerned that the spread of powerful A.I. technology critical to national security could eventually be used by China or by Chinese government-linked engineers, if not sufficiently guarded. Last month, a U.S. cybersecurity review board sharply criticized Microsoft over a hack in which Chinese attackers gained access to data from top officials. Any major leak — for instance, by G42’s selling Microsoft A.I. solutions to companies set up in the region by China — would go against Biden administration policies that have sought to limit China’s access to the cutting-edge technology.

但美国官员也担心，如果没有足够的防范措施，对国家安全至关重要的强大人工智能技术的传播最终可能被中国或与中国政府存在联系的工程师所利用。上个月，美国的一个网络安全审查委员会对微软公司提出了尖锐批评，因为来自中国的黑客在一次攻击行动中获得了高级官员的数据。任何重大泄密事件——例如G42向中国在该地区设立的公司出售微软人工智能解决方案——都将违背拜登政府试图限制中国获取尖端技术的政策。

“This is among the most advanced technology that the U.S. possesses,” said Gregory Allen, a researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a former U.S. defense official who worked on A.I. “There should be a very strategic rationale for offshoring it anywhere.”

“这是美国拥有的最先进的技术之一，”战略与国际问题研究中心研究员、前美国国防部官员格雷戈里·艾伦说，“要将其转移到海外任何地方，都应该有一个非常具有战略意义的理由。”

For Microsoft, a deal with G42 offers potential access to huge Emirati wealth. The company, whose chairman is Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, the Emirates’ national security adviser and the younger brother of the country’s ruler, is a core part of the Emirates’ efforts to become a major A.I. player.

对微软来说，与G42的交易提供了接触阿联酋巨额财富的潜在途径。该公司的董事长是阿联酋国家安全顾问、阿联酋统治者的弟弟谢赫塔农·本·扎耶德，是阿联酋努力成为重要人工智能参与者的核心人物。

Despite a name whimsically drawn from “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” in which the answer to the “ultimate question of life” is 42, G42 is deeply embedded in the Emirati security state. It specializes in A.I. and recently worked to build an Arabic chatbot, called Jais.

该公司的名字典出《银河系漫游指南》——书中称“生命终极问题”的答案是42，尽管有如此搞怪的名字，G42却是一家深嵌于阿联酋国家安全体系中的公司。它专注于人工智能领域，最近致力于开发一款名为Jais的阿拉伯语聊天机器人。

G42 is also focused on biotechnology and surveillance. Several of its executives, including Mr. Xiao, were associated with a company called DarkMatter, an Emirati cyber-intelligence and hacking firm that employs former spies.

G42还专注于生物技术和监视领域。该公司的几名高管，包括肖鹏，都曾与“暗物质”有过合作，这是阿联酋一家雇用前间谍的网络情报和黑客公司。

In its letter this year, the bipartisan House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party said Mr. Xiao was connected to an expansive network of companies that “materially support” the Chinese military’s technological advancement.

两党组成的众议员美中战略竞争委员会在今年的信中说，肖鹏与一个庞大的企业网络有联系，这些公司为中国军队的技术进步提供“实质性支持”。

The origins of Tuesday’s accord go back to White House meetings last year, when top national security aides raised the question with tech executives of how to encourage business arrangements that would deepen U.S. ties to firms around the world, especially those China is also interested in.

周二的协议起源于去年在白宫举行的一系列会议，当时国家安全高级助理向科技业高管们提出了这样一个问题，要如何鼓励加深美国与世界各地企业的关系的商业安排，特别是那些中国也感兴趣的公司。

Under the agreement, G42 will cease using Huawei telecom equipment, which the United States fears could provide a back door for the Chinese intelligence agencies. The accord further commits G42 to seeking permission before it shares its technologies with other governments or militaries and prohibits it from using the technology for surveillance. Microsoft will also have the power to audit G42’s use of its technology.

根据该协议，G42将停用华为的电信设备，美国担心这些设备可能会为中国情报机构提供后门。该协议进一步承诺，G42在与其他政府或军队分享其技术之前将寻求许可，并禁止将该技术用于监视。微软还将有权审计G42对其技术的使用情况。

G42 would get use of A.I. computing power in Microsoft’s data center in the Emirates, sensitive technology that cannot be sold in the country without an export license. Access to the computing power would likely give G42 a competitive edge in the region. A second phase of the deal, which could prove even more controversial and has not yet been negotiated, could transfer some of Microsoft’s A.I. technology to G42.

G42将获得微软在阿联酋数据中心的人工智能算力，这是一项敏感技术，如果没有出口许可证，是不能在阿联酋出售的。该交易的第二阶段可能更具争议性，目前尚未进行谈判，它可能将微软的部分人工智能技术转让给G42。

American intelligence officials have raised concerns about G42’s relationship to China in a series of classified assessments, The New York Times previously reported. Biden administration officials have also pushed their Emirati counterparts to cut the company’s ties to China. Some officials believe the U.S. pressure campaign has yielded some results, but remain concerned about less overt ties between G42 and China.

 据《纽约时报》此前报道，美国情报官员在一系列机密评估中已经对G42与中国的关系提出了担忧。拜登政府官员还敦促阿联酋方面的官员切断该公司与中国的联系。一些官员相信美国的施压活动已经取得了一些成果，但他们仍然对G42与中国之间不太公开的联系感到担忧。

One G42 executive previously worked at the Chinese A.I. surveillance company Yitu, which has extensive ties to China’s security services and runs facial-recognition-powered monitoring across the country. The company has also had ties to a Chinese genetics giant, BGI, whose subsidiaries were placed on a blacklist by the Biden administration last year. Mr. Xiao also led a firm that was involved in 2019 in starting and operating a social media app, ToTok, that U.S. intelligence agencies said was an Emirati spy tool used to harvest user data.

G42的一名高管曾在中国人工智能监控公司依图科技工作，该公司与中国的安全部门有着广泛的联系，并在全国范围内运行基于面部识别的监控系统。该公司还与中国基因巨头华大基因有联系，拜登政府在去年将后者的子公司列入了一份黑名单。肖鹏还是另外一家公司的负责人，该公司于2019年参与了社交媒体应用ToTok的启动和运营，美国情报机构称该应用是阿联酋用于收集用户数据的间谍工具。

In recent months, G42 has agreed to walk back some of its China ties, including divesting a stake it took in TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, and pulling out Huawei technology from its operations, according to U.S. officials.

据美国官员称，近几个月来，G42已同意放弃与中国的部分联系，包括剥离它在TikTok所有者字节跳动的股份，并在其业务中移除华为技术。