Chinese Chatbots Must Toe the Communist Party Line – Regulations Expected to Kill Innovation In This Sector

 Chatbots are all the rage in the west. ChatGPT, Bing Chat, Jasper and many others have taken our societies by storm, and many people have become obsessed with this popular application of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Chinese Tech Giants, not to be outdone, are also developing many models of Chatbot both for the Chinese market as well as for export.

But the development of these applications has found a difficulty that is specific to the Chinese society: censure.

The Chinese government has issued regulations requiring chatbots that use artificial intelligence to stick to the ruling Communist Party line.

Programmers and companies developing bots that do not follow this directive will be held responsible for any ‘subversive’ output.

 

It’s expected in the industry that this move ‘will likely be the death of further innovation in the sector.’

Radio Free Asia reports:

“‘The content generated by generative artificial intelligence should reflect the core values ​​of socialism,’ the country’s Cyberspace Administration said in draft rules issued for public feedback and comment on April 11.

‘[It] must not contain subversion of state power, overthrow of the socialist system, incitement to split the country, undermine national unity [or] promote terrorism [and] extremism,’ it said, using phrases typically used to target public dissent and criticism of the government.”

The authorities want to see this implemented by year’s end, as Tech Firms are rushing to develop their own chatbots.

Meanwhile, regulators have warned companies not to make available the artificial intelligence ChatGPT to the public.

In 2017, a chatbot called ‘Baby Q’ was discontinued, “after it referred to the government as a ‘corrupt regime’, claimed it had no love for the Communist Party and said it dreamed of emigrating to the United States, amid reports that its programmers had been hauled in for questioning by police.”

Organizations and individuals using AI products to provide services will be held responsible for their output.

Computer scientist Zhang Xiaogang:

“A dictatorial regime will always try to control everything, but this is a ridiculous approach,” Zhang said. “Restricting such things is tantamount to restricting AI itself, which will cause China’s AI to fall behind the rest of the world.”