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.
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
Both sides of the Taiwan Strait share a political foundation based on the “1992 consensus” and opposition to Taiwanese independence, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) today said during her meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Both sides of the Strait should plan and build institutionalized and sustainable mechanisms for dialogue and cooperation based on that foundation to make peaceful development across the Strait irreversible, she said. Peace is a shared moral value across the Strait, and both sides should move beyond political confrontation to seek institutionalized solutions to prevent war, she said. Mutually beneficial cross-strait relations are what the
ECONOMIC COERCION: Such actions are often inconsistently applied, sometimes resumed, and sometimes just halted, the Presidential Office spokeswoman said The government backs healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges, but such arrangements should not be made with political conditions attached and never be used as leverage for political maneuvering or partisan agendas, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks after China earlier in the day announced 10 new “incentive measures” for Taiwan, following a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in Beijing on Friday. The measures, unveiled by China’s Xinhua news agency, include plans to resume individual travel by residents of Shanghai and China’s Fujian
RSS