China wants to regulate the development of generative AI technology

The Chinese government has released a set of draft rules to manage the development of generative artificial intelligence services in the country, according to a Reuters report.

According to the draft rules by the CAC, AI technology providers must ensure that data used to train generative AI products is legitimate, and algorithms and training data should be designed without discrimination.

Additionally, the draft rules would require service providers to conduct security assessments before launching their offerings, request users to submit their real identities, and update their technology within three months to prevent inappropriate content from being generated again.

Failure to comply with these rules can result in fines, service suspension, or criminal investigations of said firms.

The rules drafted by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) and are expected to come into effect sometime this year comes in response to concerns about the potential risks of generative AI, which has become increasingly popular among consumers and investors after the release of OpenAI's ChatGPT.

They also come after the rapid development of ChatGPT-styled products that can power applications ranging from chatbots to image generators by Chinese tech giants, including Baidu's Ernie Bot, SenseTime and Alibaba's Tongyi Qianwen.

China is not the only country that has shown concern about the development of generative AI. In March this year, the Italian Data Protection Authority (DPA) banned the technology after it found that the chatbot could potentially store users' personal information and use it for profiling or commercial purposes without consent.

The German government is also considering a ban on generative AI technology.