China’s ‘socialist’ AI chatbots: Is this a doomed project?

livemint.com:

Beijing’s rigorous push for chatbots with core socialist values is the latest roadblock in its effort to catch up with the US in a race for artificial intelligence (AI) supremacy. It’s also a timely reminder for the world that a chatbot cannot have its own political beliefs, the same way it cannot make human decisions. It’s easy for finger-wagging Western observers to jump on recent reporting that China is forcing companies to undergo intensive political tests as more evidence that AI development will be knee-capped by the government’s censorship regime.

The arduous process adds a painstaking layer of work for tech firms, and restricting the freedom to experiment can impede innovation. The difficulty of creating AI models infused with specific values will likely hurt China’s efforts to create chatbots as sophisticated as those in the US in the short term. But it also exposes a broader misunderstanding around the realities of AI, despite a global arms race and a mountain of industry hype propelling its growth.

Since the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in late 2022 kicked off a global generative AI frenzy, there has been a tendency from the US to China to anthropomorphize this emerging technology. But treating AI models like humans, and expecting them to act that way, is a dangerous path to forge for a technology still in its infancy. China’s misguided approach should serve as a wake-up call.