China's cyberspace authority issued a draft regulation for artificial intelligence (AI) generated content, supporting innovation, promotion and application of AI algorithms and frameworks. Meanwhile, it called for efforts to ensure fair competition as domestic industry players have been intensively launching related services amid the worldwide ChatGPT frenzy. The regulation, which is open for public comments until May 10, is seen as a booster for the booming AI sector in China, observers said. It propels the development of the industry, while it also ensures that progress on the significant but double-edged tool won't be derailed amid rising global concerns. China supports the independent innovation, popularization and application, and international cooperation of basic technologies such as AI algorithms and frameworks. It also encourages the priority use of safe and reliable software, tools, computing and data resources, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said on its website. Regulations are made to “promote the healthy development and standardized application of generative AI,” said the CAC.
According to the draft rules, operators are required to report to regulators for safety reviews before providing such services to the public, and are urged not to use algorithms, data and platforms to engage in unfair competition. The CAC also laid out the ground rules that generative AI services have to follow, including the type of content these products are allowed to generate, saying that companies should ensure the accuracy of information and not generate false information. It is necessary to introduce this management framework at the moment, as more domestic firms are launching such services, while risks such as data leaks, monopolies and ethical problems are on the rise, Wang Peng, Research Fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.
Alibaba said that all its products and platforms, including the widely used e-commerce platforms Tmall and Taobao, enterprise communication platform DingTalk, and video platform Youku, will be connected to its ChatGPT-like Tongyi Qianwen AI chatbot. Besides, Tencent has been developing a ChatGPT-like chatbot, which will be integrated into the application of services, including QQ and WeChat, Tang Daosheng, Senior Executive Vice President of Tencent, said. Baidu in February launched its chatbot “Wenxin Yiyan”, also called "ERNIE Bot" in English. Liu Dingding, a Beijing-based tech industry observer, told the Global Times that the draft regulation is a relatively new one on the global scene, which can prevent the industry from being derailed as global concerns over the technology have been rising.
Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing unit of Alibaba, will offer more enterprises access to Tongyi Qianwen so that they can build their own customized large language models. “We are at a technological watershed moment driven by generative AI and cloud computing, and businesses across all sectors have started to embrace intelligent transformation to stay ahead of the game,” said Zhang Yong, Chairman and CEO of Alibaba Group and CEO of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence. Zhang made the remarks at the 2023 Alibaba Cloud Summit in Beijing. The Chairman added that large AI models will be applied in a wide range of sectors, giving a big boost to productivity and profoundly changing people’s lifestyles. Alibaba’s unveiling came one day after Chinese AI pioneer SenseTime launched its latest set of large AI models – SenseNova – which cover key capabilities including computer vision, natural language processing and AI-generated content.
Making rules is a prerequisite for promoting the development of the industry in China, Pan Helin, Joint Director of the Research Center for Digital Economics and Financial Innovation affiliated with Zhejiang University's International Business School, told the Global Times, while stressing the significance of “striking a balance between development and regulation as AI-generated content (AIGC) will be a major science focus for the future development.”
