Additional laws focusing on content control and licensing are being considered by the Chinese government in relation to the advancement of artificial intelligence (AI). The Financial Times reported on July 11 that the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) is attempting to impose a system that would require local businesses to seek a license prior to launching generative AI systems.
This action represents a strengthening of the originally established laws, which were announced in April and gave businesses 10 working days following the product’s debut to register it with authorities. Sources informed the FT that the next regulations, which could be published as early as this month, are expected to incorporate the new licensing mechanism.
The April version of the regulations also required mandatory security reviews of content created by AI.
All content must “embody core socialist values,” according to the government, and must not “subvert state power, advocate the overthrow of the socialist system, incite splitting the country, or undermine national unity,” according to the law.
Chinese tech and e-commerce giants Baidu and Alibaba have recently launched their own AI tools, with Alibaba’s AI chatbot competing against the popular ChatGPT. As per the FT report, both companies have been in communication with regulators to ensure compliance with the newly introduced regulations.
The draft regulations in China also hold tech companies developing AI models accountable for any content produced using their products, prompting global regulators to push for similar measures; for instance, US Senator Michael Bennet recently urged tech companies to label AI-generated content in a letter, as a means of regulating it.
Vera Jourova, vice president for values and transparency at the European Commission, has stated to the media that she thinks content created by generative AI tools that have the “potential to generate disinformation” needs to be labeled in order to combat the spread of misinformation.
