Conceptual diagram of AI Photo: VCG

The Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems, or NeurIPS, a leading global conference in machine learning and computational neuroscience, issued a public apology on Friday via its X account over a controversial policy in its 2026 submission handbook, soon after boycotts from several China's federations for technology professionals.

"We deeply apologize for the alarm and impact this miscommunication had on our community," NeurIPS said in the statement, attributing the error to "miscommunication between the NeurIPS Foundation and our legal team." The organizers added that they have "updated the link and clarified the text of our policy," emphasizing that NeurIPS "welcomes submissions from all compliant institutions and individuals."

The apology followed mounting backlash from Chinese computer scientists and researchers after the original conference handbook stated that its California-based foundation must comply with US law, which includes a clause in the original handbook specifying that NeurIPS was "unable to accept or publish submissions from any Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) list, or any individual or institution that NeurIPS reasonably believes represents or is affiliated with an SDN." SDN refers to entities listed under US sanctions, including 873 Chinese entities.

The move has triggered widespread boycotts across China's scientific community.

On March 25, the China Computer Federation (CCF) issued a statement condemning the restriction, arguing that barring submissions from certain institutions politicizes academic exchange and violates fundamental academic principles. The organization urged NeurIPS to correct its actions immediately and restore equal rights for all institutions to participate in submissions and academic exchanges. It also called on Chinese researchers to refuse to provide services to NeurIPS and to boycott paper submissions. The CCF warned that if NeurIPS fails to rectify the issue, it will remove the conference from its recommended list of international academic conferences and journal catalogues.

On March 26, the Chinese Association of Automation (CAA) released a similar statement, criticizing the linkage of academic exchange with political considerations as a serious deviation from core academic values and a threat to the global research community. The CAA likewise called for a boycott and announced plans to remove NeurIPS from its own recommended conference list.

That same day, the China Society of Image and Graphics also expressed strong opposition, stating that the reported discriminatory clauses targeting certain Chinese institutions run counter to the principles of openness and collaboration in scientific research, and have drawn widespread attention and firm resistance from the domestic academic community.

An article published by a WeChat account affiliated with the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) on Thursday criticized NeurIPS for "openly excluding a number of organizations, including Chinese institutions, based on unilateral US sanctions lists." The article argued that such actions introduce "political hegemony into academic exchange," distort fairness, and undermine the global scientific ecosystem. It called on scholars and academic organizations worldwide to resist such practices and to safeguard the independence, openness, and integrity of scientific research.

In a follow-up statement on Friday, CAST announced concrete countermeasures. It said that, starting from Friday, it will stop accepting funding applications for scholars to attend NeurIPS 2026, redirecting support to domestic conferences or international events that uphold openness and fairness. In addition, papers accepted by NeurIPS 2026 will not be recognized as representative research outputs in CAST-related evaluations. However, the academic value of such papers may still be assessed independently by relevant national academic societies in accordance with established standards.

Despite the latest statement by NeurIPS, many Chinese netizens remain unconvinced by NeurIPS's apology.

One netizen wrote that whether Chinese scientists are doing well does not depend on recognition from an organization "wearing tinted glasses." Another said the swift apology from NeurIPS suggests a sense of panic, arguing that without Chinese researchers contributing top-tier intellectual talent and robust data, the conference would struggle to maintain its status as a leading international venue.

Global Times