China has a large population and takes highly restrictive measures in many areas. We discussed China’s interesting bans in 2021 under the title “China’s interesting bans”. Many things, from the letter N to Astra Travel, have been banned in the country in the past. We extensively covered this topic in our article on “China’s interesting bans”. Now, bans on artificial intelligence have come to the agenda.
China and AI Regulations
China’s internet regulator will censor information used by AI products and hold developers accountable for their outputs as the country fights for AI supremacy. The China Cyber Administration states that organizations will have 10 days to register generative products after they are launched, as part of regulations that the government will conclude this month.
However, Beijing must meet the dilemma of innovation under Communist-style censorship that could hinder the usefulness of AI tools. The first draft of the new regulations stated that AI efforts should “concretize basic socialist values” and promote national unity. However, it remains to be seen whether companies see compatibility with friendlier regimes that are also fighting China for AI supremacy. Professor Angela Zhang from Hong Kong said companies should be willing to filter out incompatible data or face heavy penalties.
Socialist AI
China’s new regulations hold developers almost solely responsible for the outputs generated by large language models. Recently, Chinese companies Baidu and Alibaba released productive tools that do not violate communist ideals. This means that AI tools used in the region will need to be trained in a way that is not contrary to basic socialist values.
We have seen censorship in many areas in China, from using foreign agents’ news as a source in internet queries. Now, the intervention in artificial intelligence means a new restriction for the Chinese. According to the latest news, China, which has been continuing its social credit program for a long time, will monitor its citizens with 600,000 cameras that can be tracked in real-time. Although all of this seems like a scene from a movie, China’s excessive surveillance policy is no longer surprising for those living in the region.
