In the article in Study Times, bylined Li Chunyan, called for China’s propaganda officials to pay more attention to the output of applications such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and be more cautious about censoring the AI-generated content.
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“Scientific understanding and better use of the technologies underpinning applications such as ChatGPT matters significantly to China’s comprehensive strength and discourse right on the global stage.”
China made AI a national priority in 2017, stating its ambition to become “the world’s premier artificial intelligence innovation centre” by 2030.
In 2019, at a meeting with Politburo members, Chinese President Xi Jinping urged political elites to “increase the sense of urgency and mission”, apply AI in news collection, production, distribution and feedback, “harness algorithms with [the party’s] mainstream values” and improve their ability to guide public opinion.
ChatGPT, an AI chatbot developed by Microsoft-backed OpenAI, has captured worldwide attention since it was launched in 2022 for its detailed responses and articulate answers across many domains. Beijing acted quickly to catch up by pooling national resources and encouraging domestic technology firms to develop large language models (LLMs).
Large language models are deep-learning AI algorithms that can recognise, summarise, translate, predict and generate content using very large data sets.
China should be more vigilant towards “foreign media, which are good at leading international discourse by taking advantage of AI technology”, Li wrote in the article.
Chinese media should learn to grasp the new technologies, use them to precisely position its international audience, and improve its messaging and image building globally, Li added.
“Making better use of applications like ChatGPT can help us tell China stories well, recognise ideological issues and guide specific international discourse more effectively,” the author wrote.
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Li also said editors and reporters in Chinese media should be ready to strengthen scrutiny over their content “to compensate for the shortcomings of AI-generated content value defects”.
When asked politically related questions by the Post, several of the domestically made chatbots avoided such questions or sent them for a security review.