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China’s communist regime, mirroring a debate in the U.S., is taking steps to regulate the exploding field of generative artificial intelligence and has announced plans to enforce rules to label and restrict information created by powerful new technological tools.
The Cyberspace Administration of China said Friday that enforcement would include clear indications marking AI-generated content, policing internet news and information produced without approval, and a fresh crackdown on information the regulator determines to be false.
The Chinese regulator’s “special actions” will focus on specific areas of the internet and research and include heightened scrutiny for internet “trolls” and rumors that the communist regime dislikes, according to an English-language translation of the regulatory notice.
Despite vast ideological differences and sharp geopolitical competition, the notice reveals that the Chinese government shares many concerns that Biden administration officials and lawmakers on Capitol Hill have voiced about new generative AI tools involving the spread of misinformation and deceptive content.
Both countries, as well as regulators for the European Union, are struggling to find the balance between encouraging AI’s positive aspects and curbing abuses and problems that surface.
Generative AI tools include the popular ChatGPT, which uses powerful models to create text, images and videos in response to queries from users, often with startlingly human qualities.
Some of China’s planned rules resemble proposals from American lawmakers, such as marking AI-generated content.
Sens. Brian Schatz, Hawaii Democrat, and John Kennedy, Louisiana Republican, introduced the AI Labeling Act last year to require AI warning labels in an effort to stop scammers from duping Americans.
The U.S. bill has stalled, and other proposals remain under debate, but Beijing has formulated aggressive regulations. The state-affiliated Global Times said the push announced Friday builds on interim regulations governing generative AI dating back to August, part of China’s first comprehensive AI-focused regulation.
International perceptions that China is cracking down on AI may mistake the communist regime’s bark for its bite, said University of Hong Kong law professor Angela Huyue Zhang.
In a research paper published last month, Ms. Zhang said China’s fear of losing the AI race to American and other Western rivals, coupled with the escalating chip embargo on Chinese AI firms spearheaded by Washington, are diminishing the communist government’s enthusiasm to restrain domestic players and enforce the proposed AI rules.
“As evidenced by its permissive stance over the abusive use of facial recognition technology, Chinese regulators have favored a light-touch approach to AI regulation in practice,” Ms. Zhang wrote. “Similarly, Chinese courts are trying to prop up the AI industry.”
Ms. Zhang said China’s AI development rivals American progress in certain commercial and national security AI applications for technology such as facial recognition, voice recognition and AI-enhanced drones.
Ms. Zhang said the U.S. surpasses China in other AI domains, including those leveraging “large language” models, the powerful algorithms making generative AI tools possible. She said industry analysts estimate that China’s AI companies are behind their U.S. counterparts by two or three years.
“China’s strategic lenient approach to regulation may, therefore, offer its AI firms a short-term competitive advantage over their European and U.S. counterparts,” Ms. Zhang wrote. “However, this leniency risks creating potential regulatory lags that could escalate into AI-induced accidents and even disasters.”
The fear of losing a competitive advantage by imposing excessive restrictions on AI has surfaced in the U.S. as well.
Small AI startups have complained that President Biden’s October executive order will hurt their businesses before they can get off the ground, said Esube Bekele, an official with In-Q-Tel, the Virginia-based nonprofit venture capital company that invests in companies to help keep U.S. intelligence agencies at the cutting edge of information technology.
Concerns about Mr. Biden’s AI rules are also mounting on Capitol Hill. The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability has scheduled a hearing this month called “White House Overreach on AI.”
• Ryan Lovelace can be reached at rlovelace@washingtontimes.com.
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