A ChatGPT user was reportedly detained by Chinese police recently for allegedly employing the AI-powered chatbot to fabricate a false news story about a train accident that never happened. It is one of the first enforcement actions under a Chinese law that regulates AI-generated “deepfakes,” which are digital images, videos, and other media that appear to be real but have been fabricated.
A man identified only by his surname, Hong, used ChatGPT to create a fake news article about a crash that allegedly resulted in the deaths of nine construction workers in the northwest Chinese province of Gansu, according to a police report. 21 records on a famous social stage, all possessed by a media organization situated in southern China, spread the phony story inside a brief timeframe.
Due to China’s “Great Firewall,” which censors the internet for its citizens, ChatGPT is technically unavailable in China, just like the majority of foreign websites and applications. However, resolved people can get entrance by means of normally accessible “virtual confidential organization” programming that sidesteps the firewall. Hong’s use of ChatGPT was not explained in the police report.
According to the report, the article had already received 15,000 views when Gansu security personnel realized it was a hoax. Hong was then subjected to “criminal coercive measures” by the police after they conducted a search warrant at his residence to gather evidence. That phrase is used by police to describe temporary restrictions placed on a suspect’s freedom.
On January 10, the new deepfake law in China went into effect. It prohibits a number of subcategories of fake media created by “deep synthesis technologies,” such as virtual reality and machine learning, but only provides hazy definitions for many of these prohibited subcategories.
Deepfakes used in activities that endanger national security, harm the nation’s image or societal public interest, or disturb “economic or social order” are prohibited, according to a translation of the law provided by the crowdsourced website China Law Translate. It specifically says that you can’t use these kinds of technologies to make, publish, or spread fake news.
