China's Crackdown on Artificial Intelligence

As American giants race to release their Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems, Chinese companies such as Baidu and Alibaba are following in their footsteps. However, China appears to be taking a more restrictive approach to regulating these systems. A new proposal from the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) aims to keep these Chinese technology companies in check.

Rise of Chinese AI Systems

Over the past few months, Chinese tech companies have been working on their own products to rival companies like OpenAI and Google. The latest example is Alibaba with the release of Tongyi Qianwen and similar capabilities to ChatGPT. However, the sudden rise of these products, creating a whole host of legal issues, had alarmed the Chinese government.

The Proposal

The CAC’s proposal aims to bring developers in line with the country’s “core socialist values”. Providers will have to submit their products for review and ensure registration within a database. Users’ identity will also have to be verified before providing access to the product.

The CAC’s rules aim to prohibit the creation of false information. AI services are set to become responsible for ensuring that content is accurate, respects intellectual property laws and does not discriminate or endanger security. Finally, all AI-generated content will have to be correctly labelled to demonstrate such compliance.

If providers fail to comply with the rules set out in the proposal, they could face fines, service suspension or even criminal investigations. If any inappropriate content is generated by a platform, the technology would also have to be updated within three months to avoid future mistakes.

Regulations in Other Countries

Countries all over the globe are trying to catch up with the pace of AI developments and address legal issues in many areas, from IP to data protection. Beyond China, Italy has placed an outright ban on ChatGPT over privacy concerns. Both Canada and the United States have also expressed concern over the products.

Other countries, however, seem to have taken a more pro-innovation approach. Japan openly supports ChatGPT and is even considering incorporating it into government systems if cybersecurity concerns are cleared. The UK has also set out a pro-innovation approach in its recent white paper on the topic of AI regulation. Some see this as reckless given the unknown extent of AI’s legal impact.

Conclusion

As companies around the world are competing in the generative AI sector, CAC intends to control the development of these products in China. Other countries seem to agree on the need for regulating AI but favour a pro-innovation approach.

By Scott Hickman