The provisions were published jointly in 2022 by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the Ministry of Public Security.
China was the first country to regulate generative artificial intelligence and services like ChatGPT. But OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard remain unavailable in China.
Father of China’s Great Firewall raises concerns about ChatGPT-like services
Father of China’s Great Firewall raises concerns about ChatGPT-like services
In recent months, some police departments have published details of cases in which AI-generated misinformation was spread online.
On Thursday, China’s northwest province of Gansu cited on its official WeChat account a viral social media post about a 73-year-old retired teacher in a nursing home who died in bed with multiple wounds.
The authorities said the content was generated through AI to earn money through views and had “disrupted public order”. Other cases included an article about a “disastrous” earthquake and a post with pictures of a public gathering, both of which were fake and had disrupted the public, according to authorities.
In another case in the city of Dazhou in southwestern Sichuan province, a woman posted pictures of an “abandoned baby girl in Guizhou”, which police said had been generated by a man using AI to attract views. Both individuals were punished for having a “negative social impact”, according to a post on a police WeChat account on Monday.
A promising Chinese start-up rival to OpenAI’s Sora raises US$14 million
A promising Chinese start-up rival to OpenAI’s Sora raises US$14 million
According to the CAC statement on Friday, authorities will “resolutely” crack down on common online practices that direct people to “illegal overseas web links” for information related to obscenities, gambling or “water armies”, a reference to fake commentators hired to sway online discussion.
Overseas web links in the mainland that are blocked by the Great Firewall are only accessible via a VPN.
Meta’s Threads tops China’s App Store despite Great Firewall ban
Meta’s Threads tops China’s App Store despite Great Firewall ban
The top regulator also signalled a further crackdown on the “deliberate use of typos or homophones” – a common method used by Chinese netizens to get around censorship – to spread information that is “sexual, malicious or incites opposition”.
Other issues highlighted on Friday included defamation of businesses and entrepreneurs, unapproved online news platforms, and “fake or vulgar” content in live videos.
