The News
China is testing homegrown artificial intelligence systems to ensure they “embody core socialist values.” Beijing has previously published rules telling chatbots to avoid topics seen as sensitive, such as the Tiananmen Square massacre, but the mandatory review process for companies like ByteDance and Alibaba marks an intensification of the government’s AI censorship efforts, the Financial Times reported.
The restrictions present a challenge for both AI companies and Beijing’s censors: “It’s very hard for developers to control the text that [bots] generate,” one expert said. Some Chinese chatbots reject most questions that mention Chinese leader Xi Jinping. One bot, when asked about his leadership, provided a long list of Xi’s accomplishments and called him “undoubtedly a great leader.”