China wants artificial intelligence tools to reflect “core socialist values,” according to a draft regulation released today, amid a frenzy by Chinese operators to design apps similar to ChatGPT.
The North American ChatGPT tool, launched in November 2022 and capable of producing detailed answers on a wide range of topics in seconds, is being watched with interest in China.
The interface isn’t available in the country, but ChatGPT is the subject of countless articles and discussions on social media, with local tech giants competing to design equivalent tools in China.
Search engine Baidu was one of the first Chinese groups to position itself in this niche, along with Internet and video game champion Tencent and e-commerce pioneer Alibaba.
Amid the euphoria surrounding so-called generative artificial intelligence, China wants to regulate this technology.
Before being available, products that use generative artificial intelligence must “go through a security inspection,” according to the draft regulation of the Cyberspace Administration of China, cited by the French agency AFP.
The regulator, which is submitting the text for public comment before it is adopted, does not specify when the regulation will take effect.
AI-generated content must “reflect fundamental socialist values and must not contain [elementos relativos] to the subversion of State power”, reads the draft regulation.
The project aims to ensure “the healthy development and ‘standard’ implementation of generative artificial intelligence technology,” according to China’s internet regulator.
China aims to become the world leader in artificial intelligence by 2030, which is expected to revolutionize a number of sectors, including the automotive and medical industries.
Search engine Baidu was the first in the country to announce that it was working on a local equivalent to ChatGPT.
Introduced to the press in March, Ernie Bot, which operates in Mandarin and is aimed exclusively at the Chinese market, is currently only available in beta.
Online retail giant Alibaba unveiled its version today, the “Tongyi Qianwen” (know-all machine).
In the race for artificial intelligence, the main challenge for Chinese programmers is finding a conversational bot that works well but does not deviate from the strict framework of allowed content.
China closely monitors the Internet and the media in the country, according to AFP.
Every day, an army of censors removes content that portrays state policy in a negative light or is likely to create a stir.
Social networks are also subject to stricter control.
China, which is at the forefront of regulating new technologies, already last year asked Internet giants to reveal their algorithms.
At the heart of the digital economy, algorithms function as the brains behind many applications and services on the Internet, and are often a closely guarded secret.
Source: TSF
