Chinese-linked artificial intelligence (AI) programs are allegedly sending Beijing information, so democratic countries should ban them and establish mutually agreed-upon rules for AI, the Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology Research Institute said in a report released yesterday.
Taiwan and its democratic allies should ban Chinese-funded AI models and establish a review system that forbids AI services from sending client data to China, ensuring that there is alignment on the policies, the institute’s Democratic Governance Research Program said in The Authoritarian Gaze: China’s Global Data Reach and the Systemic Risks to Democracy, which the National Science and Technology Council-backed think tank released at an event in Taipei.
Chinese AI is focused on information management, a Beijing-based governance model and the commercialization of AI, Democratic Governance Program director Huang Kai-shen (黃凱紳) said.
Photo: Wu Po-hsuan, Taipei Times
China first attempted to commercialize AI models and programs for internal markets before stepping up its export processes last year, Huang said.
The high level of Chinese government involvement in the corporate sector poses a significant and unavoidable national security risk for countries that use AI software developed there, he said.
Program deputy director Lai You-hao (賴又豪) said that China’s alleged attempt to siphon information from other countries is apparent in its push for global markets to deploy its AI software.
There are no legal, judicial or rights guarantees protecting people from allegedly invasive behavior from Chinese AI, Lai said.
AI models can extrapolate information from input, he said, citing an example of how software can deduce that a woman is pregnant when they ask about unscented soap.
Information ends up in China through data being stored on servers within its borders, by sharing the information as corporate files and by Beijing demanding access to them, he said.
Liu I-chen (劉以正), Asia-Pacific program officer for the London-based Article 19 rights group, said that human rights risk being undermined or abused by using Chinese-developed AI models.
Chou Chih-ho (周智禾), deputy director-general of the Ministry of Digital Affairs’ Cyber Security Administration, said that Taipei has been improving information security since 2001.
Regulations include a general ban on government employees and agencies using Chinese software, services and hardware, Chou said.
Tu Yu-yin (涂予尹), a professor of public administration at Tamkang University, said that information security systems are not the crux of the issue.
People must be aware of what they are doing on computers, Tu said, adding that she expects an independent agency to be created that focuses on protecting personal information.
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