China’s top legislative body is reviewing a bill to regulate research and development in the field of artificial intelligence, in what would be the first legislation in the country to cover the sector.
Experts quoted by the official Global Times newspaper today deemed it urgent to create a law to “regulate the research and development of artificial intelligence technology and its supply chains” as the “sector is developing at an unprecedented pace”.
Formulating a law for this type of technology is part of a development plan the Asian country set out in 2017.
“Artificial intelligence is already used in various fields, which has created great challenges, which must be addressed urgently,” said Li Zonghui, vice president of the State Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Cyberspace, quoted by the newspaper.
The plan, drafted by the State Council (Executive) in 2017, highlighted the “need to establish an initial system of laws, regulations, ethics and policies for artificial intelligence, aimed at forming the ability to assess and control its security”.
According to the project, the technology should be a “major force driving the country’s industrial modernisation and economic transformation” by 2025.
Last April, China’s Cyberspace Administration issued a draft regulation for the sector that stipulates that texts generated by artificial intelligence cannot include content that attempts to “subvert state power”, “incite division of the country” or “promote ethnic hatred and discrimination”.
The document also requires companies to “take appropriate measures to prevent users from becoming too dependent or addicted to the content”.
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) announced last May the creation of a committee and a group of experts in science and technology ethics, with the aim of establishing a unique management system to address ethical issues in the field of artificial intelligence.
Chinese companies such as Baidu or Sensetime have recently presented their own ‘chatbots’, similar to the popular ChatGPT, developed by the US-based OpenAI and which is inaccessible in China, although in recent weeks doubts have arisen about the application of this technology in the country, due to strong censorship imposed by the authorities.
