China has blocked the latest artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT from OpenAI and also told firms Tencent and Ant Group (a subsidiary of e-commerce giant Alibaba) to restrict access to ChatGPT and report to officials over the fear that the American owners of ChatGPT would use the tool to spread propaganda in the country and also generate replies that are typically censored in the nation
The Artificial Intelligence tool has the ability to produce high-quality essays with minimal human input, generates text on any subject in response to a prompt or query and has reportedly raised concerns globally over its impact on education with its ability to produce high-quality essays with minimal human input.
An executive from a leading tech company explains that their understanding from the beginning is that ChatGPT can never enter China due to issues with censorship as China will need its own versions of ChatGPT and that they have already been a target of the Chinese regulator [amid the tech industry crackdown in recent years], so even if there were no such ban, they would never take the initiative to add ChatGPT to their platforms because its responses are uncontrollable.
China is one of the world’s most restrictive countries when it comes to the Internet and media, as it controls the news, online environment and social media platforms with ChatGPT joining the likes of Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, YouTube, Wikipedia and some Google services that are also blocked nationwide in the Asian country.However, the US has also looked to ban the Chinese app, TikTok over the same fears Chinese officials have with ChatGPT.