China’s Internet regulator State Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) is bracing for AI-generated fake news. This writes The Register.
The CAC recently managed to take 107,000 news accounts and fake presenters offline, it indicates in its press release written in Chinese. It also removed 835,000 documents containing “false information” from the (Chinese) Internet.
The action is part of a campaign by the Chinese state organization to “clean up” certain key network traffic streams, focusing on traffic from news providers, including short video platforms. Think TikTok and popular search engines.
Fight against clickbait
More specifically, the CAC’s focus was on AI-generated virtual presenters, deliberately created studio scenes, cutting and pasting of news pieces to make certain headlines and other methods that can gain audience attention. In short, the Chinese government agency is cracking down on clickbait, says The Register.
New AI law
The regulator’s action may stem from the recent enactment of a Chinese law on AI-generated media. Among other things, this forces (media) companies to ensure that their AI algorithms are not abused for illegal activities. These include fraud, scams and spreading fake news.
ChatGPT is not currently available in China. However, Ai-generated image generator Midjourney has recently become available in the People’s Republic. Users can use the latter service only through WeChat.
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