The name of the Chinese President has been featured in several aspects of Beijing’s political and external affairs over the years but the technologically advanced nation has now taken a step forward- to immortalise Xi Jinping and his thoughts in every Chinese mind.It may sound surprising to many but China is now trying to eternalize Xi by introducing its version of AI-powered Chat GPT.
What makes the Chinese version different from Open AI’s iconic chatbot is the introduction of thoughts and beliefs to match with that of President Xi Jinping.Financial Times summed up the probable reason behind introducing such a chatbot by mentioning in its report: “Beijing’s latest attempt to control how artificial intelligence informs Chinese internet users has been rolled out as a chatbot trained on the thoughts of President Xi Jinping.”The chatbot has been trained in the President’s political philosophy, known as “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era”, as well as other official literature provided by the Cyberspace Administration of China.The effort to ensure AI understands Xi’s philosophy comes as Chinese officials navigate balancing the country’s draconian controls on free speech with fostering AI development and creating rivals to the likes of Open AI’s ChatGPT, reported Financial Times.
According to South China Morning Post, China’s top internet regulator has rolled out the large language model (LLM) based on Chinese President Xi Jinping’s political philosophy and called it “secure and reliable”.
The machine learning language model was launched by the China Cyberspace Research Institute, which operates under the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), the national regulator, it said.The philosophy, along with other selected cyberspace themes that are aligned with the official government narrative, make up the core content of the LLM, according to a post published on Monday on the WeChat account of the administration’s magazine, the publication reported.
The platform, however, is still not open to the regular people. It is currently used at a research centre under the powerful internet regulator.In its article, Fortune magazine expressed doubt about the way the chatbot will be used in China.”It’s unclear whether the CAC’s chatbot—which both papers have dubbed “Chat Xi PT”—is meant to be used, or even whether it will be released to the public. But it’s not difficult to imagine how such a model might be employed as a tool for enforcing ideological orthodoxy,” the magazine reported.The introduction of chatbots by two of the technologically strongest nations in the world is surely setting the foot towards an AI arms race in future.The only way perhaps to end such a situation from emerging is by introducing strong global regulations.The European Union made history recently when it gave the final agreement to the world’s first law to regulate AI.
“The flagship legislation follows a ‘risk-based’ approach, which means the higher the risk to cause harm to society, the stricter the rules. It is the first of its kind in the world and can set a global standard for AI regulation,” the EU said in a statement.The new law aims to foster the development and uptake of safe and trustworthy AI systems across the EU’s single market by both private and public actors.At the same time, it aims to ensure respect for fundamental rights of EU citizens and stimulate investment and innovation on artificial intelligence in Europe.The AI act applies only to areas within EU law and provides exemptions such as for systems used exclusively for military and defence as well as for research purposes.The introduction of similar laws globally can only hinder rivalry and channelise AI towards ensuring positive outcomes.
newsday.co.zw