ChatGPTdeveloped by OpenAI, is an artificial intelligence chatbot designed to generate consistent and accurate responses autonomously, trained from huge volumes of texts, books and web pages. Since it was introduced, it quickly exploded and gained great popularity thanks to its wide range of capabilities, which range from writing different types of texts, such as cover letters, essays and reports; even creating stories with different plots and characters, translating texts from one language to another and even generating code in different programming languages. But although it has dozens of virtues, like any other technology, ChatGPT it’s not good or bad, but it depends on the use we make of it.
And in this regard, the case of Hong. Arrested by police in Gansu, northwest China, this man allegedly created a false report about a train accident that resulted in nine deaths. More than 20 accounts shared the article on a blogging platform known as Baijiahao, accumulating more than 15,000 visits; and, seeking to evade duplication checks on the platform, Hong used ChatGPT to produce several slightly modified versions of the fake news.
The arrest was made on the basis of a new law related to artificial intelligence (AI) in China – the first of its kind – which prohibits the use of “deep synthesis” technologies (those that use AI to create text, images and videos, among others) to spread false information.
After discovering the item on April 25, authorities found multiple versions of the same story with different locations, and traced the items to a company operated by Hong. And while China is one of the few countries that blocks access to ChatGPT, you can bypass these restrictions by using a VPN connection.
Police affirms that Hong admitted to using ChatGPT to rewrite viral news articles and publish them after friends showed him how to make money from Internet traffic.
The man was specifically charged with “picking fights and causing trouble,” a general offense that can be applied to suspects accused of creating and/or spreading misinformation online. However, this was widely criticized for its potential to silence free speech and arrest activists who criticize the Chinese government.
