Chinese AI rules to be tighter than expected

Beijing is set to tighten regulations on generative artificial intelligence by forcing firms to obtain a license before launching any AI models, according to the Financial Times.

The rules will be published as soon as this month and a system will be launched for the licensing regime by the Cyberspace Administration of China later, it said.

That would be a stricter requirement compared to the draft regulations released in April that said companies would have 10 working days for registration after launching their products to the public, it added.

In the draft regulations, the administration says China supports AI innovation and application and encourages the use of safe and reliable software, tools and data resources but that content generated by generative AI has to be in line with the country's core socialist values.

The regulator also said service providers must require users to submit their real identities and related information.

The report came as the science and technology ministry said it had held a meeting last week with firms such as Xiaomi (1810), iFlytek, and Alibaba Cloud to discuss innovation as well as national strategic scientific and technological initiatives.

The minister, Wang Zhigang, said in a statement yesterday that China would support private enterprises to create leading science and technology enterprises, and encourage more talents to gather in leading private science and technology enterprises.

Major tech stocks in Hong Kong rose yesterday, driving the Hang Seng Tech Index up 1.5 percent. Xiaomi and Alibaba (9988) rose more than 2 percent, while shares of Lenovo (0992) and SenseTime (0020) declined by over 4.2 percent.