China's Internet Watchdog Now Requires AI Companies to Obtain Product Licenses within 10 Days

China's Cyberspace Administration has implemented new regulations that mandate artificial intelligence (AI) companies to obtain a license for their new products within 10 days of their launch. The move comes as China seeks to assert its dominance in the field of AI and ensure censorship of the information used by AI tools.

However, Beijing's communist-style censorship poses a potential challenge to the usefulness of AI. The new regulations state that AI efforts should align with "core socialist values" and promote national unity. This requirement raises concerns about compliance feasibility and whether companies will be able to navigate the restrictions imposed by China's censorship regime. Failure to filter non-compliant data could result in severe penalties for companies.

One aspect of AI technology that has sparked controversy is the access to information by large language models behind generative AI tools. Elon Musk has criticized the practice of AI bots scraping information from the internet, highlighting the need for boundaries.

In contrast, China's new rules place significant responsibility on developers for the outputs produced by their large language models. Chinese companies such as Baidu and Alibaba have released generative tools that do not conflict with the country's alleged communist ideals.

Similar concerns about AI regulations have been expressed in Western countries. UK Labour spokesperson Lucy Powell has called for regulations requiring AI product developers to obtain licenses. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has proposed laws similar to those used by the European Organization for Nuclear Research.

While some experts predict that AI could pose a threat to humanity in the near future, there are more immediate concerns, such as the societal impact of disinformation. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, has advocated for new regulations in the US Congress to address AI's future risks. Financial institutions have already experienced the consequences of AI technology when a fake image of a Pentagon explosion caused the S&P 500 to plummet within 20 minutes.