Image : Encyclopedia Britannica
The Chinese government is cracking down on what it perceives as a potential threat to official doctrine on sensitive matters and is growing more leery of interactive artificial intelligence services that are becoming ever more powerful.
A Chinese startup and ChatGPT, a chatbot operated by the American company OpenAI, are two businesses that have recently been forced to suspend their operations. It appears that this was because the AI technology used by these companies provided answers that occasionally disagreed with Beijing’s viewpoints.
Chinese media and other sources claim that ChatYuan, a Chinese AI-powered bot, was suspended three days after its launch in early February for breaking rules, even though it appears that the suspension was caused by its responses.
For example, it referred to the Ukraine crisis as “a war of aggression started by Russia,” and described the Chinese economy as having “structural problems” such as “serious environmental pollution and a real estate bubble.”
Regarding ChatGPT, the Chinese government instructed domestic companies to stop using it by late February. The state-run broadcaster China Central Television reported that using ChatGPT “risks spreading extreme discourse and false information.”
Beijing claims that there are no human rights violations in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, but ChatGPT has highlighted forced labour and other issues there.
The need for government regulation of artificial intelligence and other instruments of the digital economy was emphasized by Guo Weimin, a spokeswoman for the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, a national political advisory body, at a press conference on Friday.
“Surveillance must be incorporated into the rule of law and the construction of a safe system needs to be strengthened,” Guo said.
