China's new artificial intelligence regulations begin to take effect

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

China put into force this week its newest regulations on artificial intelligence-generated content, a watered-downed version of stricter draft rules that seek to keep the country in the AI race while maintaining firm censorship on online content. Rapid advancements in generative AI have stoked global alarm over the technology's potential for disinformation and misuse, with deepfake images showing people mouthing things they never said.

Chinese companies have rushed to develop artificial intelligence services that can mimic human speech since the release of San Francisco-based OpenAI's ChatGPT, which is banned in the country. Experts say the 24 new rules appear to be diluted from strict draft regulations published earlier this year as Beijing seeks to encourage homegrown entrants to the US-dominated industry.

Here's what you need to know about Beijing's regulations, which target services for the general public: Generative AI must «adhere to the core values of socialism» and refrain from threatening national security and promoting terrorism, violence, or «ethnic hatred», according to the guidelines. Service providers must label AI-generated content as such, and take measures to prevent gender, age and racial discrimination when designing algorithms.

Their software should not create content that contains «false and harmful information». AI programmes must be trained on legally obtained data sources that do not infringe on others' intellectual property rights, and individuals must give consent before their personal information can be used in AI training.