Chinese police have made the first-ever arrest of a man who allegedly used ChatGPT to fabricate news. ChatGPT is an AI technology used for generating fake news, and the accused disseminated the fake news on Chinese social media platforms.
The man, surnamed Hong, created a false news report about a fatal train crash, which stated that nine people had died after a train hit road workers in China's Gansu Province on April 25. The fabricated story caught the attention of local cyber security officers, who launched an investigation. The police found that a total of 21 accounts on Baijiahao, a blog-style platform of China's search engine giant Baidu, posted different versions of the article simultaneously, involving different accident locations. The fake news gained more than 15,000 clicks by that time.
After tracing all the accounts involved in the case from a "we-media" marketing company registered in Shenzhen, Hong, the legal representative of the company who made use of AI technology to create fake and untrue information that was widely spread and viewed, was arrested. He has been charged with "picking quarrels and provoking trouble." Further investigation is ongoing.
The incident is the first of its kind following the implementation of regulations, effective from January, which are aimed at preventing the misuse of deepfake technology. The new regulations require synthetic videos and photos made through deep synthesis technology to be clearly labeled to prevent public confusion, and cover the responsibilities of deepfake providers and users, to include prohibiting illegal acts by using the tech, setting up a review system, and identifying user information.
Cyberspace regulators in China are monitoring the increasingly popular use of OpenAI's ChatGPT and other generative AI technologies. The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) has already released draft regulations, to come into effect this year, for managing generative AI services. The CAC supports the independent innovation, popularization, and application of generative AI technology. However, products or services related to generative AI technology must comply with the requirements of laws and regulations and respect social morality and public order, according to the CAC. The proposed regulations cover service providers' access, algorithm design, training data selection, content generalized, and users' privacy and business secrets. Service providers will be obliged to take risk prevention measures and respond to regulatory requirements.
