ChatGPT Train Crash Fake Leads to Arrest in China
A man in China was arrested by police for creating a fake news story about a fatal train crash and then posting it on over a dozen social media sites. The deepfake news article claimed nine people had been killed in a local train accident on April 25th. Chinese cyberpolice are accusing the man of “using artificial intelligence technology to concoct false and untrue information,” the first arrest of its kind in the Communist regime.
In the US and other Western nations, creating a deepfake using artificial intelligence is not illegal unless the specific content or information is of malicious intent. However, under Chinese law, a person found guilty of posting and spreading false news or rumors online – known as “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” – normally carries a maximum sentence of five years, but if circumstances are considered extreme, it can be up to 10 years in prison.
By the time police authorities became aware of the fake story, it had amassed over 15,000 clicks and was reposted by more than 20 accounts on a blog-style platform run by Baidu, the Chinese equivalent of Google. Chinese regulators passed new legislation in January requiring all photos and videos created with “deep synthesis technology” to be clearly labeled, so as to avoid public confusion.
The new provisions define deep synthesis as “the use of technologies – including deep learning and augmented reality – to generate text, images, audio and video and to create virtual scenarios,” the SCMP reports. Even though Chinese authorities have banned the use of ChatGPT since its release in November 2022, Chinese users can still access the Microsoft-backed OpenAI platform using a VPN connection.
According to a police statement, the suspect, known as Hong, confessed to creating different versions of the fake story by inputting bits and pieces of other trending articles from years past into the ChatGPT model. Once generated, police say the man uploaded the deepfake versions to multiple online accounts he had created on the Baidu blog platform. Once traced back to a company owned by the suspect, the police raided his home and seized his computer as evidence.
The arrest took place in China’s northwestern Gansu province. The case serves as a cautionary tale for those looking to create and spread fake news and rumors online, especially for those in China where the consequences can be severe.
