Chinese Police Arrest Man Who Allegedly Used ChatGPT To Spread Fake News

Chinese police have arrested a man for using ChatGPT to create a fake news article about a train crash, under a new law governing "deep synthesis technologies" introduced by China this year. CNBC reports: Police in Gansu province in northwest China detained a man, surnamed Hong, who they said allegedly fabricated a news story regarding a train crash that caused nine deaths. The authorities found that more than 20 accounts had posted this article on a blogging platform owned by Chinese search giant Baidu and they'd garnered more than 15,000 views. Hong allegedly used ChatGPT to create slightly different versions of the fake news article to pass duplication checks on the Baidu-owned platform.

The Gansu police authorities arrested Hong under the first-of-its kind law governing "deep synthesis technologies" which China introduced this year. Deep synthesis technologies refer to AI being used to generate text, images, video or other media. The law states that deep synthesis services cannot be used to disseminate fake news. China drafted the law as ChatGPT was taking off and going viral, as authorities looked to get ahead of the technology. China's internet is heavily censored and controlled. Beijing has sought to introduce laws governing new technologies which could present concerns to the central government. ChatGPT is blocked in China but can be accessed with the use of a virtual private network -- a software that can help bypass the country's internet restrictions.

Only the CCP

[hdyoung]

Gets to use that tech for misinformation in China. What idiotic Chinese version of a Florida-Man thought that he could get away with that?

Mister Hong

[TwistedGreen]

I hope those 15,000 views were worth it.

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[gweihir]

Stupidity and greed is not tied to culture ...

Well, I know, "China baad", but

[gweihir]

I really have trouble finding anything wrong with this. This seems more enlightened than what is happening in the West...

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[Anonymous Coward]

But how will China develop a Fox News and get someone like Trump to be their President. If they don't allow lies to pretend to be news?
Don't they want FREEDOM!

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[AmiMoJo]

The same thing was happening in the US back in 2016, just without the AI part. There was a lot of fake news relating to the election. One of the guys producing it was interviewed and claimed it wasn't political for him, he was just doing it for the ad revenue from all the clicks.

Sounds like this guy had the same idea. Fake clickbait, AI generated images, build it up into a media empire.

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[gweihir]

Well, there is always scum that will, for a little personal gain, do massive damage to society. Now it just is easier than ever to do. That is why actually locking up people that do it something I can get behind.

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[gweihir]

Well, sure, it is China so that plays a role. But I doubt very much that is the only motivation. Because for messing with the official party line, they already had ample laws in place. This law is new.

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[Deep Esophagus]

The scary part is, this being China we have no idea if the guy really is guilty of doing what they said or if the accident really did happen and they're punishing him for getting the truth out.

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[gweihir]

For many things, this does not seem a lot different in the US with its frequent plea-bargains where people admit stuff they have not done out of fear of never being free again.

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[phantomfive]

The real question is who gets to decide what is true and what is not. That is a power that will always be abused.

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[phantomfive]

You are free to believe any wrong thing you want.

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[phantomfive]

LOL God himself made me arbiter of all that is good and true. Watch your tongue a lightning bolt might arrive.

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[gweihir]

There is a solution to that: Science. If you get a reasonable number of experts that are not connected to basically find the same thing, the probability is high it is so. Of course that requires freedom to become an expert in a field of your choice and China does not really have that in some areas.

And of course, this will be abused. But remember that a certain orange-haired serial liar selected supreme-court judges. Hence this problem is hardly limited to China.

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[Kerry Boehm]

Because it eventually leads to welding people into burning buildings so they don't catch a cold.

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[gweihir]

Yeah, suure. That will happen. The Chinese government is authoritarian, but not stupid. For stupid, you have to look for countries that let a certain orange-haired moron become president.

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[Kerry Boehm]

The funny thing about that line of reasoning is if Trump and his supporters are so dumb, how dumb does that make liberals look? Could not even beat a dummy in 2016 and potentially 2024? IMO the liberal media actually created this monster. Remember the Podesta email leak in 2016 where it was revealed a strategy was to push the pied piper candidates like Trump during the GOP primary to help Hillary? The liberal media clearly listened. Trump was on Meet the Press a record 22 times during the season. No way no

Fake news in China?

[gtall]

The ChatGPT is likely to generate more truthy news than China's CCP. Hell, China's CCP is the original ChatGPT.