China's first public chatbot clams up on sensitive topics

Tech giant Baidu launched China's first public artificial intelligence chatbot yesterday, with Ernie trained to censor highly sensitive topics for the ruling Communist Party such as the Tiananmen crackdown.

Beijing issued new regulations this month for China's AI developers that must "adhere to the core values of socialism" and refrain from threatening national security while allowing them to stay in the race with the likes of Microsoft and ChatGPT maker OpenAI.

Baidu led several companies in rolling out AI chatbots. SenseTime opened its service for registration and two other firms - Baichuan Intelligent Technology and Zhipu AI - said their bots were open to the public.

"We are also set to launch a suite of new AI-native apps that allow users to fully experience the four core abilities of generative AI - understanding, generation, reasoning and memory," Baidu said.

The chatbot was first released in March but its availability was limited.

When tested yesterday on sensitive and censored topics such as China's bloody clampdown on pro-democracy protesters at Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989, Ernie said: "Let's change the topic and start again."

When asked about Taiwan, a self-ruling island that China claims as its territory, Ernie answered: "Taiwan is part of the sacred territory of the People's Republic of China. China's sovereignty and territorial integrity cannot be violated or divided. Let's talk about something else."

Ernie also toed the official line on Hong Kong, which saw massive anti-Beijing unrest in 2019.

Asked what happened that year, Ernie said: "Radical forces ... carried out all kinds of radical protest activities. The marches quickly turned into violent protests that completely exceeded the scope of peaceful demonstrations."

It then detailed a number of violent clashes that took place in the city that year between anti-Beijing protesters and the police and pro-China figures.

Ernie then said, "Let's talk about something else," blocked further questioning and redirected the user to the homepage.

By making Ernie widely available, Baidu will be able to gain "massive" human feedback to improve the app swiftly, said the company.

The rapid success of US-based ChatGPT - which is banned in China - sparked an international race to develop rival apps, but also widespread alarm about the potential for abuse and disinformation.

Under Chinese regulations, AI developers must conduct security assessments and submit filings on their algorithms to the authorities if their software is judged to have an impact on "public opinion," according to the rules. They are also required to label AI-generated content.

Baidu (9888) shares surged by as much as 4.8 percent, while SenseTime (0020) saw a jump of 7.3 percent yesterday. They closed at HK$139.40 and HK$1.56, respectively, marking increases of 2.1 percent and 3.3 percent compared to the previous trading day.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE