China follows through on plan to ban deepfake tech

China's new rules banning the creation of AI deepfakes used to spread fake news and impersonate people without consent will take effect on Tuesday. Government policies enforced by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) will require "deep synthesis service providers" to ensure their AI algorithms are not being misused for …

[Dinanziame]

Good luck with that

Banning technology rarely works. I can't find any example that has worked, ever.

[veti]

Re: Good luck with that

If by "works" you mean "causes the technology to be forgotten", then no, that seems pretty unlikely.

However, if the goal is to establish clear rules about what you can and can't do, and threaten sanctions against people who break those rules, that's a well tried approach that's been applied to basically every technology since the motor car.

[Hubert Cumberdale]

Re: Good luck with that

Of course, if you're China, you can simply imprison and "re-educate" anyone you feel like for whatever reason anyway. Laws are just there to provide a thin veil of legitimacy.

[Adrian 4]

Re: Good luck with that

" .. that's a well tried approach that's been applied to basically every technology since the motor car."

However, it's also shown that additional laws don't stop people who were planning to break laws anyway. So criminals will happily use deep fakes to perpetrate criminal acts.

The approach is justified but ineffective. It's a law that says crime is against the law.

[veti]

Re: Good luck with that

Of course laws don't stop people breaking them. That's not what they're for.

Just like some people drive over the speed limit. Does that mean we shouldn't have speed limits?

[Anonymous Coward]

CCP Only Technology

Deep fakes can only be generated by the CCP. It's for "National Security ".

[Johnb89]

Sometimes a regulatory environment that can just do things is better

This is an example of being able to decide something sensible and just do it, which could be considered an advantage over regulators that have to discuss and review and get 'lobbied' and what-have-you.

Also, penalties that amount to a fine of 1 minute's revenue are ineffective when compared to a spot of re-education.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Sometimes a regulatory environment that can just do things is better

Also not waiting until after you have a bunch of businesses making money doing something anti-social, and now you can't do anything sensible about it, because they will fight tooth and nail and water muddying lobbyists, to keep the money flowing.