Microsoft: China plans to disrupt elections with AI-generated disinformation

Beijing is expected to ramp up sophisticated AI-generated disinformation campaigns to influence several high-profile elections in 2024, according to Microsoft's threat intelligence team.

Microsoft warned that state-backed Chinese cyber groups – with assistance from North Korean actors – "are likely to target" the presidential and legislative elections in countries such as the US, South Korea, and India this year. Their primary tactic is projected to be the creation and...

5 April 2024 | Artificial Intelligence

Google engineer stole AI tech for Chinese firms

A former Google engineer has been charged with stealing trade secrets related to the company's AI technology and secretly working with two Chinese firms.

Linwei Ding, a 38-year-old Chinese national, was arrested on Wednesday in Newark, California, and faces four counts of federal trade secret theft, each punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

The indictment alleges that Ding, who was hired by Google in 2019 to develop software for the company's supercomputing data...

7 March 2024 | Artificial Intelligence

Baidu deploys its ERNIE Bot generative AI to the public

Chinese tech giant Baidu has announced that its generative AI product ERNIE Bot is now open to the public through various app stores and its website.

ERNIE Bot can generate text, images, and videos based on natural language inputs. It is powered by ERNIE (Enhanced Representation through Knowledge Integration), a powerful deep learning model.

The first version of ERNIE was introduced and open-sourced in 2019 by researchers at Tsinghua University to demonstrate the natural...

31 August 2023 | Applications

Beijing publishes its AI governance rules

Chinese authorities have published rules governing generative AI which go substantially beyond current regulations in other parts of the world.

One notable requirement is that operators of generative AI must ensure that their services adhere to the core values of socialism, while also avoiding content that incites subversion of state power, secession, terrorism, or any actions undermining national unity and social stability.

Generative AI services within China are...

14 July 2023 | Artificial Intelligence

Beijing launches campaign against AI-generated misinformation

ai china cyberspace administration misinformation fake news anchor

China's Cyberspace Administration (CAC) has launched a campaign to combat fake news generated by AI.

The crackdown is focused on news providers, including short video platforms and popular search lists.

The CAC specifically highlighted manipulative practices such as the use of AI virtual anchors, forged studio scenes, fake news accounts mimicking legitimate ones, and the manipulation of news to create misleading storylines. These practices are employed to generate...

18 May 2023 | Applications

Baidu to launch powerful ChatGPT rival

Chinese web giant Baidu is preparing to launch a powerful ChatGPT rival in March.

Baidu is often called the “Google of China” because it offers similar services, including search, maps, email, ads, cloud storage, and more. Baidu, like Google, also invests heavily in AI and machine learning.

Earlier this month, AI News reported that Google was changing its AI review processes to speed up the release of new solutions. One of the first products to be released under...

30 January 2023 | Applications

FBI director warns about Beijing’s AI program

FBI Director Christopher Wray has warned about the national security threat posed by Beijing’s AI program.

During a panel at the World Economic Forum, Wray explained that Beijing’s AI program “is not constrained by the rule of law”.

Wray says Beijing has “a bigger hacking program than any other nation” and will use machine learning to further boost the capabilities of its state-sponsored hackers.

Much like nuclear expertise, AI can be used to...

23 January 2023 | Artificial Intelligence

China’s deepfake laws come into effect today

China will begin enforcing its strict new rules around the creation of deepfakes from today.

Deepfakes are increasingly being used for manipulation and humiliation. We’ve seen deepfakes of figures like disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried to commit fraud, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to spread disinformation, and US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to make her appear drunk.

Last month, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) announced rules to clampdown on...

10 January 2023 | Applications

US introduces new AI chip export restrictions

NVIDIA has revealed that it’s subject to new laws restricting the export of AI chips to China and Russia.

In an SEC filing, NVIDIA says the US government has informed the chipmaker of a new license requirement that impacts two of its GPUs designed to speed up machine learning tasks: the current A100, and the upcoming H100.

“The license requirement also includes any future NVIDIA integrated circuit achieving both peak performance and chip-to-chip I/O performance equal...

1 September 2022 | Companies

SenseTime prepares to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange

Chinese AI giant SenseTime has received regulatory approval to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKSE).

SenseTime is the world’s most-funded AI firm and has attracted large investments in part due to providing technology for the Chinese government’s vast surveillance network.

The company’s Viper system aims to process and analyse over 100,000 simultaneous real-time streams from traffic cameras, ATMs, and more to automatically tag and keep track of...

24 November 2021 | Artificial Intelligence