Tech companies in China are being tested by government officials to ensure their artificial intelligence (AI) functions speak the language of the Communist Party and embodies its “socialist values”.
Big names like ByteDance and Alibaba, as well as small startups, are being subjected to a review to check whether they are toeing the party line on politically sensitive topics like the Tiananmen Square massacre and the rule of Xi Jinping, the Chinese president.
Beijing has made technological self-sufficiency a priority, putting it in a race with the United States for supremacy in generative AI.
The technology relies on large language models to generate answers, with its appeal partly rooted in the perception it can think freely.
However, China maintains strict censorship laws and last year a requirement was introduced for chatbots to abide by socialist values – so while officials have tried to encourage innovation, public-facing services face severe restrictions.
The review is being led by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), the government’s chief internet regulator. Its teams of inspectors have been dispatched across the country to enforce what is on course to be the world’s toughest regulatory regime to govern AI.
An anonymous employee of an AI company in Hangzhou, eastern China, told the Financial Times: “We didn’t pass the first time; the reason wasn’t very clear so we had to go and talk to our peers.
“It takes a bit of guessing and adjusting. We passed the second time but the whole process took months.”
