Image source: China Visual

BEIJING, April 11 (TMTPOST) --  The Cyberspace Administration of China, the regulator on the Internet, on Tuesday unveiled a new regulation on artificial intelligence (AI)-based generative contents and services, which is the first of the kind in China since the launch of ChatGPT last November.

ChatGPT, released by U.S.-based Microsoft-backed OpenAI, has a ripple effect on China, which saw Chinese tech giants and startups scramble to develop similar products. Many Chinese professionals and university students have become big fans of the generative pre-training transformer, either to tap into it or find out whether their jobs will be grabbed by AI.  

The publication of the regulation on the official website of the regulator is to seek public comments until May 30. The comments can be given behind the regulation, or sent to the regulator by email or mail.

 “The content produced by generative AI should align with core socialist values. No content that attempts to overthrow the government, the socialist system, or foment to split the country, hurt the national unity, preach terrorism, extremism, ethnic hatred, ethnic discrimination, violence, obscene and pornographic information or content that may disrupt the economic and social order should be allowed,” reads Article 4.1.

Core socialist values include a set of moral principles, namely “prosperity, democracy, civility, harmony, freedom, equality, justice, the rule of law, patriotism, dedication, integrity and friendliness.”

This doctrine has been encouraged by the Communist Party of China (CPC) since its 18th Party Congress in late 2012. It has evolved into a national campaign to rebuild faith amid concerns that the world's second-largest economy has lost its moral compass during its three-decade economic miracle. 

 “Core socialist values are the soul of cultural soft power...Basically, the soft power of a nation depends on the vitality, cohesive force and charisma of its core values,” said Chinese President Xi Jinping in a speech delivered during a group study of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee in 2014.