Is ChatGPT-style artificial intelligence soluble in socialism with Chinese characteristics? This is what Beijing wants to believe, which has just published new regulations to frame and promote the development of this technology in accordance with the doctrine of the regime, reported the New York Times on Wednesday, April 26.

These measures, submitted to the Chinese Communist Party on April 11, make China the first country to impose rules on this sector, which has exploded since the release, in November 2022, of ChatGPT, the conversational agent developed by the company OpenAI.

Fear of AI slippages

Beijing wanted to react as quickly as possible because "as in all countries, Chinese leaders have understood that this technology can have a profound impact on society," said Guangyu Qiao-Franco, a specialist in emerging technologies in China at Radboud University in the Netherlands.

It is therefore impossible for such a control-hungry regime to leave these conversational agents in total freedom. Especially since Beijing knows what this could look like: in February 2022, ChatYuan, the first Chinese alternative to ChatGPT, had to be withdrawn urgently after stating, in particular, that the Chinese economy was in "pitiful condition" and that the conflict in Ukraine was a "Russian war of aggression", while China takes up the Russian argument of a "special military operation".

The new rules aim to avoid these AI slippages. Specifically, Chinese companies developing alternatives to ChatGPT must ensure that their algorithms do not produce discriminatory content, violate users' right to privacy, and spread false information, the South China Morning Post reports.

These concerns concern governments around the world in the face of AI challenges.

But Article 4 of the new rules also contains an obligation to design AIs "that respect the core values of [Chinese] socialism." A call to put chatbots on the page of Mao Zedong's Little Red Book?

In fact, "there is a list of concepts that are included in the core values of socialism," Guangyu Qiao-Franco said. These include democracy, prosperity, equality and justice, patriotism, a sense of duty and a commitment to the value of work.

Pleases Xi Jinping?

A real potpourri of great values that could be shared by most Western countries. But it is difficult to deduce rules to follow in terms of developing algorithms for an AI compatible with this "socialism". "It is true that these are quite vague concepts," Guanyu Qiao-Franco acknowledges.

In reality, "this idea of 'core values of socialism' should be conceived as an umbrella concept that allows the regime some flexibility as to what is allowed and what is not," said Xin Sun, an expert on China's economic and industrial policy.

Faced with a technology that evolves as fast as these conversational AIs, Beijing does not know exactly where to put the cursor of its censorship. The "core values of socialism" are sufficiently vague to adapt to all situations.

>> Read also: ChatGPT: putting AI on pause, "an existential issue"?

The use of this reference is nonetheless surprising. Indeed, the authorities have already enacted rules for "good governance of AI" in 2019 and as part of an "AI code of ethics" in 2021. No sign of the "core values of socialism" in either case.

In 2023, the regulator decides to go further. It may have been inspired by "Xi Jinping who is increasingly referring to these values. It would then be a way to show the leader that we strive to follow his example," said Guanyu Qiao-Franco.

In this hypothesis, AI would join the growing number of parts of the economy subject to an ideological takeover, which has become one of the president's priorities.

This will not make it easy for Chinese companies wishing to compete with ChatGPT. How to create a "social-compatible" AI? "A priori, we will have to create a filter at the input of the algorithm and another at the exit," said Xin Sun.

Doomed to lag behind the United States?

This double censorship will first justify sorting the information from the database from which the AI will draw to find its answers. Then, "it will probably be necessary to set up a system of verification of the final answers to ensure that they do not contain anything contrary to the regulations," says Xin Sun.

Remains the great mystery of these AIs. "The problem is that we do not know why these machines opt for one answer rather than another from the data they are provided," explained Joseph Sifakis, research director at the University of Grenoble and the only French holder of a Turing Prize (equivalent to the Nobel Prize for artificial intelligence), at the end of March at France 24. In other words, no engineer will be able to guarantee 100% to the CCP that its chatbot will remain strictly within the framework of the "core values of socialism".

To this first uncertainty, we must also add the uncertainty surrounding the new regulations. "What Chinese entrepreneurs are asking for most is clarity in what they are allowed to do and what they are not allowed to do," Qiao-Franco said. This vagueness around the "central values of socialism" forces "companies to move very cautiously, which risks putting them behind the competition, especially North American," says Xin Sun.

Enough to put the Chinese authorities in front of their own contradictions. Indeed, AI is on the list of priority technology sectors for Beijing in its battle for global leadership. It is even central because the authorities "consider AI a bit like electricity, that is to say a technology that allows development in other priority areas [such as robotics or biotech, editor's note]," says Guanyu Qiao-Franco.

Beijing would therefore shoot itself in the foot with these new rules that risk slowing down innovation in a critical area. But "other countries will also think about the best way to regulate this sector," Guanyo Qiao-Franco said, which would limit China's initial delay.

It is still necessary that the authorities and professionals in the sector agree on what is a conversational agent compatible with socialism with Chinese characteristics. This will be the subject of the consultations that the government intends to conduct with Chinese groups that want to overshadow ChatGPT. And between Alibaba, Baidu or Tencent, they are numerous and powerful.

The summary of the week France 24 invites you to look back on the news that marked the week

I subscribe

Take international news with you everywhere! Download the France 24 app