“Certainly it’s something I'm looking for more information about,” Robertson said. “What I’ve read so far is what we’re talking about is quite an arm’s length situation, the New Zealand Government is not directly funding the firm,” Robertson said. A Stuff Circuit investigation has found New Zealand entities formed partnerships with Chinese artificial intelligence giant iFlytek in spite of concerns having been raised publicly since 2017 about the company’s role in human rights violations. iFlytek was placed on a trade blacklist by the US in October 2019. Auckland robotics company Rocos Global partnered with iFlytek in March 2019 and publicly promoted the relationship, including an opportunity to showcase its work on the world stage by operating robots at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.