Promote the healthy development and standardized application of generative artificial intelligence

Source: People's Daily - People's Daily

Recently, the Cyberspace Administration of China, together with the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, and the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, promulgated the Interim Measures for the Management of Generative Artificial Intelligence Services (hereinafter referred to as the "Measures"), which came into force on August 15 this year.

The relevant person in charge of the Cyberspace Administration of China said that the issuance of the Measures aims to promote the healthy development and standardized application of generative artificial intelligence, safeguard national security and social public interests, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of citizens, legal persons and other organizations.

Take effective measures to encourage the innovative development of generative artificial intelligence

As a key general-purpose technology, generative AI is of great significance to people's well-being, economic development, national security and strategic competition. The relevant person in charge of the Cyberspace Administration of China said that the Measures put forward the principle that the state adheres to the principle of attaching equal importance to development and security, promoting innovation and governing according to law, and takes effective measures to encourage the innovative development of generative artificial intelligence.

Article 1 of the Measures explicitly aims to "promote the healthy development and standardized application of generative AI", and Article 3 further states: "The state adheres to the principle of attaching equal importance to development and security, promoting innovation and governing according to law, takes effective measures to encourage the innovative development of generative AI, and implements inclusive and prudent and classified and hierarchical supervision of generative AI services".

"The Measures are based on promoting the healthy development and standardized application of generative AI, and in addition to clarifying in the general provisions the principle that the state adheres to the principle of attaching equal importance to development and security, promoting innovation and governing according to law, it also specifically puts forward a series of incentive measures in the chapter on 'technological development and governance'." Xin Yongfei, director of the Institute of Policy and Economics of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, said.

Article 5 stipulates that the innovative application of generative artificial intelligence technology in various industries and fields is encouraged, high-quality content is generated positive, healthy, and upwardly benevolent, and application scenarios are explored and optimized, and an application ecosystem is built. Support industry organizations, enterprises, educational and scientific research institutions, public cultural institutions, relevant professional institutions, etc. to collaborate in areas such as generative AI technology innovation, data resource construction, transformation and application, and risk prevention.

Article 6 stipulates that independent innovation in basic technologies such as generative AI algorithms, frameworks, chips and supporting software platforms is encouraged, international exchanges and cooperation are carried out on an equal and mutually beneficial basis, and participation in the formulation of international rules related to generative AI. Promote the construction of generative artificial intelligence infrastructure and public training data resource platforms. Promote the collaborative sharing of computing power resources and improve the efficiency of computing power resource utilization.

Delineate the bottom line and drive generative AI upward for good

The rapid development of generative artificial intelligence technology has brought new opportunities for economic and social development, but also generated problems such as the dissemination of false information, infringement of personal information rights, data security and bias discrimination. In this regard, the relevant person in charge of the Cyberspace Administration of China said: "The Measures adhere to the goal-oriented and problem-oriented, clarify specific measures to promote the development of generative artificial intelligence technology, and stipulate the basic specifications of generative artificial intelligence services. ”

The Measures put forward requirements for generative AI service providers and users:

-- They shall abide by laws and administrative regulations, and respect social morality and ethics.

The Measures place this content in an important position in the general provisions, clearly stipulating that adhering to the core socialist values must not produce content prohibited by laws and administrative regulations, such as inciting subversion of state power, overthrowing the socialist system, endangering national security and interests, damaging national image, inciting separatism, undermining national unity and social stability, advocating terrorism and extremism, advocating ethnic hatred, ethnic discrimination, violence, obscenity, pornography, and false and harmful information.

– Respecting intellectual property rights and the legitimate rights and interests of others.

In the process of processing personal information, generative artificial intelligence may have risks such as illegal collection and use of personal information; Generative AI training data that includes copyrighted works by others may also result in infringement of intellectual property rights.

In order to prevent infringement, Article 4 of the Measures stipulates that respect intellectual property rights and business ethics, keep trade secrets, and must not use the advantages of algorithms, data, platforms and other advantages to carry out monopolistic and unfair competition acts; Respect the lawful rights and interests of others, must not endanger the physical and mental health of others, and must not infringe on others' portrait rights, reputation rights, honor rights, privacy rights, and personal information rights. Article 7 stipulates that "where intellectual property rights are involved, the intellectual property rights enjoyed by others in accordance with law shall not be infringed".

- Improve the accuracy and reliability of generated content.

How to ensure the authenticity of generated content is not only a technical problem that the industry needs to overcome in order to further expand the commercial scope of generative artificial intelligence, but also a key issue that regulatory authorities need to consider. In this regard, the Measures stipulate: "Based on the characteristics of service types, take effective measures to improve the transparency of generative AI services and improve the accuracy and reliability of generated content." ”

-- Improving disposal measures.

In addition to imposing obligations on relevant entities, generative AI service providers also need to improve disposal measures so that the "paper" regulations can be implemented. In this regard, the Measures make it clear: "Where providers discover illegal content, they shall promptly employ measures such as stopping the generation, stopping transmission, and elimination, employ measures such as model optimization training to carry out rectification, and report to the relevant competent departments." "Providers shall establish and complete complaint and reporting mechanisms, set up convenient complaint and reporting portals, publish handling procedures and feedback time limits, and promptly accept and handle public complaints and reports, and feedback on the handling results."

Take more granular regulatory measures

Generative AI has many characteristics that previous technologies did not have. In view of its technical characteristics, the Measures improve the scientific supervision method that is compatible with innovation and development, urge regulatory authorities to adopt more refined management measures, and realize the synchronous evolution and synergy of technological innovation and regulatory innovation.

Xin Yongfei introduced that artificial intelligence algorithms have the characteristics of "black box", which is manifested in uncontrollable behavior and difficult to explain decision-making mechanisms, which brings certain difficulties to artificial intelligence supervision. To this end, the Measures are in line with existing norms such as the Provisions on the Administration of Internet Information Service Algorithm Recommendations and the Provisions on the Administration of Deep Synthesis of Internet Information Services, continuing the previous regulatory means, clarifying the principles of categorical and hierarchical supervision, and improving the mainland artificial intelligence governance system. First, it clarifies the requirements for security assessment and algorithm filing. In order to effectively respond to the "black box" problem of algorithms, the Measures make it clear that those providing generative AI services with public opinion attributes or social mobilization capabilities shall carry out security assessments in accordance with relevant national provisions, and perform algorithm filing, modification, and cancellation filing procedures in accordance with the Provisions on the Administration of Internet Information Service Algorithm Recommendations. Second, the information disclosure requirements are clarified. The Measures clearly stipulate that relevant competent departments carry out supervision and inspection of generative AI services based on their duties, and providers shall cooperate in accordance with law, explain the source, scale, type, labeling rules, algorithm mechanism, etc. of training data as required, and provide necessary support and assistance such as technology and data.

In view of other technical characteristics of generative artificial intelligence, the Measures also provide for it. For example, Article 7 fully considers the massive and heterogeneous nature of training data, and stipulates that generative AI service providers shall carry out training data processing activities such as pre-training and optimized training in accordance with law... Take effective measures to improve the quality of training data, and enhance the authenticity, accuracy, objectivity and diversity of training data.

In addition, the Measures also encourage the development of relevant industries according to their characteristics. The Measures stipulate: "encourage the innovative application of generative AI technology in various industries and fields, generate positive, healthy and upwardly good-looking high-quality content, explore and optimize application scenarios, and build an application ecosystem", "encourage independent innovation of basic technologies such as generative AI algorithms, frameworks, chips and supporting software platforms, carry out international exchanges and cooperation on an equal and mutually beneficial basis, and participate in the formulation of international rules related to generative AI".

People's Daily (Version 02, July 15, 2023)