Around midnight on April 16, 2025, after Chen Zimo learned that the Ministry of Internal Security threatened to cancel Harvard University’s degree to register international students, he began communicating with a reliable source about possible legal scenarios. Chen, a Chinese citizen, still needs a number of courses before he can complete his certificate in computer science at Harvard University, and he was panicred from the possibility of canceling his visa. For him, Harvard’s experience was transformative. Chen grew up – not his real name – in regional China, where his family had modest resources and sent him to public schools. He could have never granted Harvard University without generous financial support to the university, and he also received funding for the study of summer. However, when Chen heard about the DHS letter, his first response was to contact Harvard official, the university’s international office, or the Law College. Instead, he logged into Chatgpt.
By chance, a new model for ChatGPT, Openai O3 was released on the same day as Christie, Minister of Internal Security, sent a message to Harvard. Chatgpt includes a “deep search” tool that is trained to solve more complex problems by collecting large quantities of information online and then providing answers in more detail. Chen submitted a request from two parts:
Chatbot books again:
Chen has issued instructions to Chatgpt to “finding online context.” After it was clear that this was really happening, and that the representative of the United States government had threatened to take steps to expel every international student in the oldest higher education institution in America, Chatbot replied:
I first met Chen in 2021, when I was living in China. At that time, I admitted that he was significantly mature and thoughtful, and in April 2022, when I visited Cambridge, we met again, in Harvard Yard. Chen said that before he came to the United States, he was skeptical of overcoming the government with observation, partly due to the Edward Snowden case. But he gained a new respect for the rule of American law after one of his chapters focused on privacy and monitoring issues.
He told me: “For one unit, we discussed Article 702, a foreign program by the American government.” “Although I personally hate any kind of monitoring program, from the reading materials that have somewhat surprised by the review process and the process of supervising this program. For example, they first distinguish between us and non -American people. Also, foreigners inside the United States have the same protection from the United States. The only qualified goal is foreigners outside the United States.”
Chen was a fan when he read a set of articles that participated in a strong discussion about the program. “One of them has argued that privacy is a basic basic human right,” he said. “You can never find this type of serious discussion about the Great Wall in China.”
He often found himself making comparisons between the United States and his country of origin. It has disturbed that Chinese university students rarely examined privacy issues in a critical way, and sometimes they support censorship. “I think this has nothing to do with the insufficient civil education in China,” he said.
Chen kept strong opinions about the political system in China, but he was keen on what he said to other people, personally and on social media, even at Harvard University. He told me that he is concerned that other Chinese students may be JoboOr “report”, to him to the authorities on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. He said, “I am honestly sad about this.” “It is an end to your idea. You are constantly thinking if you can express your thoughts.” For similar reasons, he had grown to hate general unification of liberal students at Harvard University. He told me: “I have become more negative about America with political right,” explaining how his thinking developed during his first year. It was believed that many Harvard University students who suffer from themselves because they did not want to show different ideas from the majority on the campus. “The extreme political righteousness is not good for society,” he said.
In general, Chen was happy with his introduction to American life. Some of the things that I immersed at first, such as the infantry in Cambridge to cross the streets against traffic lights, disturbed him in the end less. He told me: “Previously, I thought that everyone in developed countries followed the rules.”
A little more than a week ago, I spoke with Chen again, and mentioned it how positive was about the United States three years ago. “I can summarize my feelings about the American political system in three stages,” he said. He explained that I saw him in Harvard Yard during the second stage, when his early doubts in the United States gave the way for more supportive feelings. Since then, Donald Trump has been reformulated, which led to the third stage in Chen’s thinking.
“Initially, people, including me, expected that Trump might do something crazy, but all the procedures will remain at the normal rate,” he said. “Like what he did in the first chapter.” Chen now realized that such expectations were wrong, describing his new position on the American political system as “very skeptical.”
Partially because Trump’s actions seemed unprecedented, Chen turned into the in-depth analysis of Chatgpt-O3 with his questions about the DHS targeting Harvard University students. About twenty minutes later, the program was presented for the detailed collapse that he promised:
In that evening, Chen remained awake up to 4 A.M. Send follow -up questions to Chatbot. He told me: “I expected the worst scenario of cases.” When he asked about the possibility of the government’s SEVP cancellation from the government, Chatgpt presented a detailed schedule. “However, in theory, the Ministry of National Security can say that we do not have a period of permission and everyone should be expelled.” Chen said that it is possible in theory as well. Ice Students will be arrested, but Chatbot told him that this is very unlikely. He also explained that Harvard has a number of legal solutions to these different scenarios.
During the evening, Chatgpt collected a thirty -two -page document, with time lines, potential scenarios, and percentage of the possibility of some things. The operation helped the ventilation. “After working with her for four or five hours, I felt that there was nothing to be very worried,” told me. Chatbot ended in a section entitled “Take-Away for Student”:
When we talked to Chen on May 23, it was more than a month since Chatbot conversation, and so far it was the scenarios created by its machine gun. “Today, Harvard University submitted a complaint, and they got a temporary restriction order,” he said. “I read the news half an hour ago.” He explained that this was exactly what Chatbot expected. He continued: “
Chen told me that he is still hoping to stay in the United States after completing his testimony. “At this moment, I do not want to return to China, because the political system is still there,” he said. “It is not the type of environment that I will be comfortable with. My priority is that I am still trying to find a job in the United States and I have some experience in the field of entrepreneurship. But if it does not succeed – Trump will really succeed in revenge on Harvard, or that he does something that makes everyone lose confidence in the United States – in it it may move to Europe, or I may move elsewhere in Asia.”
In recent weeks, I have been consistent with a number of Chinese acquaintances about the current situation in the United States, and I am surprised by the number of people who seemed calm. To some extent, it is an axiom: many Americans feel impotence and discomfort from what is going on, so one may expect the Chinese people to be, who are often the target of Trump’s policies, starting from the tariff to tight immigration, more difficult. However, the Chinese were stressed through previous experience with volatile and authoritarian governments. “The email may not be the safest channel to discuss this,” one of my former students, now joined a doctorate. A program at an American university, written recently. “But the safety measures of my current data on American platforms are equally with Chinese platforms now.”
Another former student, who is in middle age, told me that Trump reminds him of the worst parts of his modern history. “It is like a copy of Mao Zidong in his eighties.” “Trump is supported by the lower class with American education. It seems that he launched his own cultural revolution in the United States, and caused damage to his people and caused damage around the world. Here in China, we call it 特不靠谱, which means“ very reliable. ”People also make fun of his administration as a“ popular group ” – a term that we use to describe an unsuccessful team and amateurs.”
Trump’s apparent lack of strategic thinking of Chinese observers is often highlighted. A young woman who taught her a few years ago working with a large Chinese retail seller linked to the markets all over the world. “As for the tension of Trump’s tariff, I think it exists, but not too heavy,” she wrote to me. “After Trump won the elections, and even earlier, our company was making some amendment to factories, such as searching for factories in other countries such as Vietnam.” I noticed that the most elderly and most experienced personalities in her company seemed multiple about the trade war. “I used to ask our colleague in charge of external business about the opinion of the Trump tariff,” she wrote. He told me that he believed that no country in this world can completely separate from the Chinese supply chain, because the products made in China represent the low cost, fast speed and high quality. He has confidence [that we will] It attracts this special situation. “
