China arrested a ChatGPT user who allegedly used the viral generative AI chatbot to write fake news, the police in Northern China say.
It is the first-ever publicly known arrest by the Chinese authorities, which targeted a person who produced fake news using AI.
China Arrests ChatGPT AI User for Writing Fake News
As per Gizmodo, the Gansu province police revealed that they arrested a man over allegedly fabricating fake news using the chatbot by the Microsoft-backed OpenAI, ChatGPT.
The ChatGPT user, which the Chinese authorities only identified as "Hong," allegedly produced multiple stories spreading misinformation about a train accident last April.
The police accuse Hong of "using artificial intelligence technology to concoct false and untrue information," noting that the fake news had various versions spread across different blog posts.
The arrested man reportedly published the stories on Baijihao, a blogging social media service, which the Chinese search giant Baidu owns, according to Futurism. The authorities point out that a total of 20 accounts posted misleading content on the platform.
Gizmodo notes in the same report that several fake news articles shared on Baijihao trended online, generating roughly 15,000 clicks. The authorities further revealed that the suspect allegedly runs a business, which operates several blogs.
The alleged fake content follows a story of a train accident, which took the lives of nine passengers. The police say it was not true at all. And as such, Hong could face between five years to 10 years of imprisonment over "picking quarrels and provoking trouble" since the citation also covers spreading misinformation on the internet. The authorities in China included spreading rumors and fake news online to the ordinance a decade ago or in 2013.
China Cyberspace Administration's New Law Restricting AI Use
The Cyberspace Administration of China recently debuted a new law, primarily regulating content created or edited by generative AI. It requires such material to include an explicit label. On top of that, the rule requires it to have the source listed as well.
The new Chinese law, The Administrative Provision on Deep Synthesis for Internet Information Service, took effect last January.
Interestingly, China outright banned AI services like ChatGPT in the country last April. However, this does not necessarily mean that it is impossible to access the AI chatbot. Coin Telegraph reports that Chinese users could easily get their hands on VPN services to start chatting with the viral platform.
With that said, the police alleged the suspect of using ChatGPT AI to produce multiple fake news stories to spread misinformation across the internet.
