The CAC’s action shows its resolve to enforce domestic AI rules rolled out in August last year, which mandates all AI services to be screened and registered by authorities before being made available to the public. Certain developers and enterprises, however, have used virtual private networks to get around these rules and access unregistered GenAI services.
The CAC branch in Chongqing summoned representatives of the studio and ordered them to immediately disable access to ChatGPT.
The operators of Yizigpt.com, an AI writing platform, gaming site Kukupao.com.cn and Lvshifuwuwang – a legal services provider that is difficult to find online – were caught for failing to censor content that contained illegal information generated from undisclosed GenAI services, according to the CAC.
The regulator said those operators were slapped with “administrative punishment”, a term used for non-criminal violations, which can lead to fines, the shutdown of a business or detention of persons behind an offence.
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How does China’s AI stack up against ChatGPT?
How does China’s AI stack up against ChatGPT?
Authorities in other mainland cities have also punished websites for inappropriate use of AI. The police in Changsha, capital of central Hunan province, detained a man surnamed Xu for three days after he was caught with an AI-generated fake reward notice for wanted suspects.
The CAC branch in Leiyang, another city in Hunan, caught a man surnamed Zheng who generated fake information via AI and posted it on a local website. Both Zheng and the website operator were slapped with administrative punishment.
While the mainland aims to become a world leader in AI, it also wants to make sure that GenAI service providers “adhere to core socialist values” and do not generate any content that “incites subversion of state power and the overthrow of the socialist system, endangers national security and interests”, according to the GenAI regulation that took effect last year.