China’s top legislative body is reviewing a bill to regulate artificial intelligence research and development in what would be the country’s first legislation to cover the sector.
Experts quoted by the official Global Times newspaper this Friday said it was urgent to pass a law to “regulate the research and development of artificial intelligence technology and its supply chains” as the “industry is in an unprecedented developing pace”.
Formulating a law for this type of technology is part of a development plan that the Asian country drew up in 2017.
“Artificial intelligence is already being used in various fields, which has created major challenges that need to be urgently addressed,” said Li Zonghui, vice president of the State Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Cyberspace, quoted by the paper.
The plan, drawn up by the State (Executive) Council in 2017, emphasized the “need to establish an initial system of laws, regulations, ethics and policies for artificial intelligence, aimed at building the capacity to ensure its safety review and control”.
According to the project, technology should be a “major force driving the country’s industrial modernization and economic transformation” by 2025.
Last April, China’s cyberspace administration released a draft industry regulation stipulating that texts generated by artificial intelligence should not contain content that attempts to “undermine state power,” “incite the division of the country,” or ” promote ethnic hatred and discrimination”.
The document also requires companies to “take appropriate measures to prevent users from becoming too dependent or addicted to content”.
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) last May announced the establishment of a committee and a group of experts on scientific and technological ethics, with the aim of establishing a unique administration system to address ethical issues in the field of artificial tackle intelligence.
Chinese companies such as Baidu or Sensetime have recently presented their own “chatbots”, similar to the popular ChatGPT, developed by the North American OpenAI and inaccessible in China, although doubts have been raised in recent weeks about the application of this technology in the country , because of the strong censorship imposed by the authorities.
Source: DN
