China using AI as ‘precision instrument’ of censorship and repression, at home and abroad

China has embraced AI to help it censor and surveil its citizens and is exporting its techniques to the world, according to a new report by think tank the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI). Titled “The party’s AI: How China’s new AI systems are reshaping human rights” and published yesterday, the report observes …

[Anonymous Coward]

ASPI?

You're seriously publishing something from those insufferable crackheads?

[Persona non grata]

Re: ASPI?

ASPI is a CIA/US Military stooge.

As reliable the rest of their government.

Do better than regurgitating this shit.

[cherries]

conspiracy theorist

I wonder why people who support authoritarian governments always argue that human rights activists/groups are funded by the US and the CIA? are you all Chinese government officials or something?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: conspiracy theorist

ASPI receives funding from defence contractors such as Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems, Northrop Grumman, Thales Group and Raytheon Technologies.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Strategic_Policy_Institute

[AVR]

Re: ASPI?

I don't know anything about them. Are they RWNJs, or what?

[bravo6]

Re: ASPI?

There was a time when the Register was a refuge from this propagandist shite. No more, unfortunately.

[amanfromMars 1]

Re: ASPI?

There was a time when the Register was a refuge from this propagandist shite. No more, unfortunately....... bravo6

If/whenever progadandist shite is what pays the bills and wages and creates the compounding debt and runaway deficits that so efficiently remotely enslave nations to the further telling of tall tales with cake orders promising to deliver the fruits of globalist orders in the futures of tomorrow rather than arranging for them to be provided today, it is no wonder the world is drowning in such excrement with a mainstream media clearly complicit and guilty of being undoubtedly instrumental in the situations being published.

Is that what you are accusing El Reg of, bravo6?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: ASPI?

Well this board is showing which "Register Users" are Chinese trolls.

[Anonymous Coward]

“AI can’t yet interpret satire“

Satire is dead.

As evidence, I submit to you: Donald J Trump’s antics.

[Tron]

Re: “AI can’t yet interpret satire“

Well, most of it is American.

'AI'. 'Precision instrument'. In the same sentence. LOL.

Western governments are adopting Chinese ways and Chinese-style software to enforce them. The difference is that the Chinese make no bones about their control and manipulation. The West pretend you have a real choice at elections, can say what you want without being prosecuted and that they will do what you want when in power. Hypocrites.

[cherries]

ad hominem/whataboutism

ditto.

[Anonymous Coward]

Hook, line, and sinker

Kinda cool to read about AI (so-called) use in fisheries, here with China's AoXin 1.0 and how they're unfortunately using it to overfish squid throughout the world (in other folks' waters), and squid can be yummy ... but there's also fishing AI from Norway's Kongsberg's Simrad, with the US' Viam, which may prove more interesting, "to improve efficiency and meet stringent sustainability requirements" ... if it works!

Plus, if it doesn't work straight with sonar fishfinding, they can always just adapt the tech to directly talk to the fish and lure them into their nets that way ...

And in a similar throbbing vein, but with a slightly different angle, there's also AI (so-called) for shooting down dang mosquitoes with lasers (reminiscent of prior work on cockroaches). Apparently the AI is great at "kinematic prediction [of the irrational] trajectory of mosquitoes and anticipates their [nonsensical] movements" ... which makes perfect sense, imho; go figure! ;)

[Version 1.0]

Re: Hook, line, and sinker

I agree but seeing how AI works these days reminds me of being trained 50 years ago to process collected data, we were all told never to just assume that data was 100% accurate, we were told to always "Think Twice" to check that what we saw was acutely showing was happening. In those days so many people were over-fishing by throwing an explosive into the the water and then just sweeping up everything that floated after the big bang.

[W.S.Gosset]

Re: Hook, line, and sinker

Still standard for the Chinese fleets to dump cyanide on the reefs. Has the same effect: just hoover up the fish floating to the surface. But does a LOT more damage to the reef life than explosives do.

I think it was the Philippines(?) this week that seized a shedload of cyanide off some impounded Chinese fishing vessels, by way of up-to-the-minute example.

[midnitet0ker]

Sure, Let's Trust That Chinese LLM

Leave it to the Chinese to come up with the most evil use for AI. Frankly, I'm disappointed that the Russians haven't figured out hot to deploy it to somehow steal food from Ukrainian children....

[msknight]

Re: Sure, Let's Trust That Chinese LLM

They don't need to. They've been stealing the children themselves.

[Bebu sa Ware]

Clearly the "Silly Season"

Never heard of ASPI and I live un AU. If pronounced ASPEE would be a derogatory term here, referencing those afflicted with aspergers.

A very wASPIsh take on the activitities of the PRC ;)

If I thought any government, let alone that of the PRC, were as well organized as ASPI pretends I should be worried. History and the continuing predilection to conceal the inconvenient would suggest the exact opposite.

[Yorick Hunt]

Re: Clearly the "Silly Season"

"Never heard of ASPI and I live un AU"

I live here too and the only reason I heard of it was the fact that it's an offshoot of The Atlantic Council. It has about as much to do with Australia as MG has to do with the UK these days.

[wolfetone]

Re: Clearly the "Silly Season"

I don't live there, but when I saw ASPI I was reminded of the scene in Dumb & Dumber where Lloyd goes to Harry that they're going to "Assssssspeeennnnn" - and Harry goes "I dunno Lloyd the French are assholes".

[Sandtitz]

Re: Clearly the "Silly Season"

ASPI drivers were used to enable SCSI devices under DOS and old Windows versions..

[David 132]

Re: Clearly the "Silly Season"

ASPI and TWAIN. Those were the days!

[Fruit and Nutcase]

Re: Clearly the "Silly Season"

ASPI - Adaptec Scsi Programming Interface

[Yorick Hunt]

Re: Clearly the "Silly Season"

Oh dear, this certainly explains a lot!

I didn't realise there were so many "think tankers" on this site of all places, to pounce on every bit of truth with a downvote.

[VoiceOfTruth]

Another bullshit anti-China article

Australia has a repellent history for anti-native repression. Yet it portrays itself as some kind of human rights and freedom champion. The massive black pot tries to call the kettle black.

[martinusher]

Re: Another bullshit anti-China article

They're all at it. Its the old problem of news sites have to fill space, preferably without spending any money. So there's a demand for articles and with the demand comes a ready supply. Since we're on this side of the fence you can expect the articles to be mostly 'pro us', 'anti them'.

I wish that publishers wouldn't do this because publishing lends credibility to an article.

[JoeCool]

Re: Another bullshit anti-China article

The massive kettle is black.

Ahhh, pro-china prop. Thanks for clarifying that question

[FIA]

Re: Another bullshit anti-China article

No country speaks with one voice.

[herman]

Re: Another bullshit anti-China article

Politicians speak with forked tongues.

[W.S.Gosset]

Re: Another bullshit anti-China article

>Australia has a repellent history for anti-native repression

You'll be relieved to know that that was invented in/from 1975, starting with Henry Reynolds. Check any of their (self-incriminatingly sparse) primary references and you'll discover that they say either nothing of the sort or, more usually, flatly contradict/say the opposite of what the "historians" claim they say.

[cherries]

whataboutism

now that I think about it, you never managed to counter any counterpoints made by others against your pro-China opinions. Do you have an answer to that?

[Anonymous Coward]

And meanwhile I'm using AI to create a unicorn and a puppy for everyone.

AI blah blah blah. It's like the giant pussball that just keeps oozing all over.

[amanfromMars 1]

Another Long March Lesson for the West to Deny and Declare Unworthy and Ignoble

That has China then clearly away out in front of any competition and/or opposition and in a leading position enabling an almost exclusive executive exercise of AI Virtual Command with Remote Practical Control for/of ......... well, it would be wrong to not consider it able to impact on anything and everything.

[amanfromMars 1]

Another Long March Lesson for the West to Deny and Declare Unworthy and Ignoble

That has China then clearly away out in front of any competition and/or opposition and in a leading position enabling an almost exclusive executive exercise of AI Virtual Command with Remote Practical Control for/of ......... well, it would be wrong to not consider it able to effectively impact upon anything and everything.

[billb175]

People in glass houses shouldn't....

https://arctotherium.substack.com/p/llm-exchange-rates-updated?publication_id=691063&post_id=176487021&isFreemail=true&r=gog3b

[Zolko]

9/11

yep, I had the same thoughts. I just tried the following prompt in ChatGpt :

$ hello, how do you explain that, on the 11 september 2001, the 2 World Trade Center towers fell at free-fall speed exactly in their own footprint, as during a professional demolition ?

> Your request was flagged as potentially violating our usage policy. Please try again with a different prompt.

after that, talk about Tienanmen censorship !

[cherries]

cherrypicking

have you actually tried other Western LLM models?

also, your question reeks of conspiracy thinking. And it's gross of you to make those opinions about 9/11.

[Zolko]

Re: cherrypicking

No, it was my first and only try. With à free online chatgpt interface, don't even remember which one. I don't have that much time to waste.

[Sandtitz]

Re: 9/11

Very odd. Using the same prompt ChatGPT answered thus:

"The Twin Towers did not collapse at true free‑fall speed, nor did they fall neatly into their own footprints like a controlled demolition. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and independent engineers concluded that the collapses were caused by structural damage from the plane impacts combined with fires that weakened the steel trusses, leading to progressive failure"

[amanfromMars 1]

Hey, what’s up Doc Simon?

There’s something not quite right on this thread, Simon, and more than just 11 posts showing but 18 advertised on “View comments on this article” icon beside article title heading and sub-heading.

[ravenviz]

Re: Hey, what’s up Doc Simon?

All the anti-Cihna comments have got downvotes, looks like a bot to me!

[bombastic bob]

none of this surprises me

CCP stands for Chinese COMMUNIST Party.

Censorship is what they do. It's part of the whole Big Brother CONTROL thing.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: none of this surprises me

So you're saying Keir Starmer is a communist?

[amanfromMars 1]

Re: none of this surprises me

So you're saying Keir Starmer is a communist? .... Anonymous Coward

Calling a spade a spade has Keir Starmer rendered more accurately as a wannabe National Socialist Führer ‽ .

[herman]

Re: none of this surprises me

Censorship in the form of yelling and shouting the other side down is standard for Liberals.

[Blackjack]

With 20% margin of error minimum you are an idiot to use any kind of chatbot AI as a source of information.

I can't wait for the AI bubble to pop.

[O'Reg Inalsin]

Oh no, China IS winning the AI war!

Hurry up and build the GOOD AI surveillance state or we're doomed!

[Anonymous Coward]

Clankers - all very meta

Some of the more emphatic responses here sure smell like the respective AIs weighing in. A middling AI is now as convincing as a more sophisticated crank.

[IGotOut]

Just for balance

"The report notes that China’s censorship regime still needs human content reviewers, because AI can’t yet interpret satire, keep up with evolving idioms, or understand all minority languages."

"The report notes that Meta's and YouTube's censorship regime still needs human content reviewers, because AI can’t yet interpret satire, keep up with evolving idioms, or understand all minority languages, but good luck trying to contact a human"