China's top legislative body is reviewing a bill to regulate research and development in the area of artificial intelligence, in what would be the first legislation in the country to cover the sector.
Experts quoted today by the official newspaper Global Times considered 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 that the Asian country established in 2017.
"Artificial intelligence is already used in several fields, which has created great challenges, which must be tackled urgently.”, said Li Zonghui, vice president of the State Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Cyberspace, quoted by the newspaper.
The plan, prepared by the Council of State (Executive), in 2017, highlighted the “need to establish an initial system of laws, regulations, ethics and policies for artificial intelligence, aimed at building the ability to assess and control its security".
According to the project, the technology must be a “important force that drives the industrial modernization and economic transformation of the country”, until 2025.
Last April, the Cyberspace Administration of China 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 the 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".
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China (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 administration system for address ethical issues in the field of artificial intelligence.
Chinese companies like Baidu or Sensetime have recently introduced their own chatbots, similar to the popular Chat GPT, developed by the North American 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 the strong censorship imposed by the authorities.
