China issued interim measures on Thursday to manage its booming generative artificial intelligence (AI) industry, saying they would apply only to services offered to the public as regulators seek to support the development of the technology. The rules, set to take effect on Aug. 15, come after Beijing signaled the end of its years-long crackdown on the tech industry, whose help it seeks to spur an economy recovering more slowly than expected after the scrapping of COVID-19 curbs.
The new rules will require AI developers to disclose information, including the source, scale, quality, and type of training data; human-annotated data; foundational algorithms and technological systems; and commercial hype. They also mandate that generative AI content reflect the “core socialist values” of the state and ensure intellectual property rights are not infringed, and advise service providers to only use legitimate data sources.
Although the new rules are far from complete, they have triggered a public debate that may shape how China regulates technology. The People’s Daily editorial on the rules, widely cited by researchers and companies, warns that China’s first forays into governing AI may have serious flaws. But they will build up specific regulatory tools and bureaucratic know-how that can be used as scaffolding for future regulations, easing the construction of a comprehensive system of laws and rules to govern AI.
Regulators have framed the new measures as a response to a growing need for information control, an agenda that stems from the Chinese Communist Party’s belief that to be productive; technology must be tamed. This importance of information control shows up in several ways, not least in the choice of generative AI as the first topic for the new regulations.
China’s 2021 rules on recommendation algorithms, its 2022 rules on profound synthesis, and its draft rules on generative AI all heavily emphasize the quality of training data and the output of models. This is a clear sign that the CCP’s interest in regulating AI will not be limited to its impact on online content and will eventually extend to industrial or security-related applications.
The rapid pace at which China is imposing these rules suggests that it may need to move quickly to close the gap on US leadership in generative AI if it wants to keep its economic growth engine running. The country has been handicapped by America’s export controls on microprocessors, which are the brains of AI, preventing mainland firms from accessing the powerful silicon driving the latest generation of chipmaking machines. That gap is closing as Beijing and Washington work toward an agreement to lift export limits on the technology. But even if that happens, the country will need to invest more in its semiconductor production capabilities if it wants to keep up its lead in AI. This will likely be a significant factor in shaping future international regulations on the technology.
