In a meeting of the country’s highest-level national security body, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for “dedicated efforts to safeguard political security and improve the security governance of internet data and artificial intelligence” (Xinhua). However, this comes as US tech industry leaders warn about the threat that AI poses to humanity. More than a thousand experts, including Elon Musk, as well as Google and Microsoft executives, have called for a six-month pause on AI development, saying that it poses “profound risks to society and humanity.”
While China is dedicating vast resources to suppressing any perceived political threats to the Communist Party’s dominance through the use of surveillance technology, it is scrambling to find ways to regulate fast-developing AI technology. The use of facial, voice, and walking-gait recognition technology enables blanket electronic monitoring of political dissenters and religious minorities, especially Muslims. Meanwhile, industry leaders like AI expert Vivek Ramaswamy call for a legally enforceable regulatory framework to ensure the responsible development and deployment of the technology.
Governor Pete Ricketts of Nebraska has also warned that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is using ‘deep fake’ technology to stoke disinformation globally. The use of ‘deep fake’ technology, which creates falsified videos using AI, poses significant threats to national security. Ricketts called for a cross-government strategy to combat these threats and said that the Chinese government has become a “global leader in artificial intelligence.”
While the CCP is cracking down on its tech sector to reassert party control, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton are among the hundreds of leading figures who have warned about the perils of AI. More than 1,000 technologists signed a letter earlier this year, calling for a six-month pause on AI development. Some have also proposed a United Nations treaty to regulate AI technology.
As China faces more complicated and challenging circumstances regarding national security, President Xi Jinping emphasizes the need to prioritize the governance of internet data and AI. However, the concern of AI’s profound risks to humanity must also be addressed globally.
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