// HIGHLIGHT //
China unveils Global AI Governance Initiative as part of Belt and Road
In a significant stride towards shaping the trajectory of AI on a global scale, China’s President Xi Jinping announced the Global AI Governance Initiative (GAIGI) during the opening speech of last week’s Third Belt and Road Forum.
The initiative is expected to bring together all 155 countries that make up the Belt and Road Initiative. This will make it one of the largest global AI governance forums.
Key tenets. Releasing additional details, the Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson said the strategic initiative will focus on five aspects. It will ensure that AI development remains synonymous with human progress, which is quite a noble aim. It will promote mutual benefit, and ‘oppose drawing ideological lines or forming exclusive groups to obstruct other countries from developing AI’ – a clear dig at Western allies. It would establish a testing and assessment system to evaluate and mitigate AI-related risks, which reminds us of the risk-based approach the EU is taking in its upcoming AI Act. It will also support efforts to develop consensus-based frameworks, ‘with full respect for policies and practices among countries,’ and provide vital support to developing nations to build their AI capacities.
First-mover advantage. In recent months, China has been moving swiftly to regulate its homegrown AI industry. Its interim measures on generative AI, effective since August, were a world first; it introduced rules for the ethical application of science and tech (including AI). China is now looking at basic security requirements for generative AI. Very few acknowledge that despite its deeply ideological approach, China was the first to regulate generative AI, giving itself a significant advantage and mileage in the race to influence global standards. So much so that even US experts are now suggesting that the USA and its allies should engage with China ‘to learn from its experience and explore whether any kind of global consensus on AI regulation is possible’.
China’s approach. Interestingly, the interim measures are a watered-down version – or at least, a less robust version compared to its initial draft – a signal that China was favouring a more industry-friendly approach. A few weeks after the measures came into effect, eight major Chinese tech companies obtained approval from the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) to deploy their conversational AI services. In between the USA’s underwhelming progress on AI regulation, and the EU’s strict approach, China’s approach could easily gain appeal on the international stage.
Quasi-global. The international audience watching that stage is very large. With over 150 countries forming part of the Belt and Road Initiative, China’s Global AI Governance Initiative will be one of the largest AI governance forums. But the coalition’s size is not the only reason why the initiative will be highly influential. As the Belt and Road Initiative celebrates its 10th anniversary, China is extolling its success in stimulating nearly USD 1 trillion in investment, forming more than 3,000 cooperative projects, creating 420,000 jobs, and lifting 40 million people out of poverty. All of this gives China geopolitical clout and leverage.
Showtime. China’s Global AI Governance Initiative will undoubtedly influence other processes. Of the coalitions that have launched their own vision or process for regulating AI, the most recent is the draft guide to AI ethics, which the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is working on. The unveiling of China’s initiative comes a few weeks before the UK’s AI Safety Summit (see programme), which China is set to attend (even though it’s still unclear who will represent China – the decision will indicate the level of significance China gives to the UK process).
Xi’s speech conveys a willingness to engage: ‘We stand ready to increase exchanges and dialogue with other countries and jointly promote the sound, orderly and secure AI development in the world’. But as China’s Global Times writes, ‘China is already a very important force in global AI development… there is no way the USA and its Western allies can set up a system of AI management and regulation while squeezing China out.’
| Digital policy roundup (16–23 October) |
US senator urges social media platforms to curb deceptive news
Disinformation is not just a concern for European policymakers. US Senator Michael Bennett has also written to the CEOs of Meta, Google, TikTok, and X to take prompt action against ‘deceptive and misleading content about the Israel-Hamas conflict’, which he says is ‘spreading like wildfire’.
Bennett’s letter was quite critical: ‘In many cases, your platforms’ algorithms have amplified this content, contributing to a dangerous cycle of outrage, engagement, and redistribution… Your platforms have made particular design decisions that hamper your ability to identify and remove illegal and dangerous content.’
Why is it relevant? First, it shows that concerns about the spread of disinformation and illegal content in the context of the Middle East conflict are not limited to European policymakers alone (although the approach taken by both sides hasn’t been quite the same). Second, Bennett is drawing attention to the platforms’ algorithms (something that the EU did not mention), which have arguably played a significant role in inadvertently promoting misleading content and creating filter bubbles.
// CYBERSECURITY //
Five Eyes warn of China’s ‘innovation theft’ campaign
The heads of the Five Eyes security agencies – composed of the USA, UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand – have warned of a sizeable Chinese espionage campaign to steal commercial secrets. The agency heads met publicly for the first time during a security summit held in Silicon Valley. Over 20,000 people in the UK have been approached online by Chinese spies, the head of the UK’s MI5 told the BBC.
| The week ahead (23–30 October) |
21–26 October: ICANN78, the organisation’s 25th annual general meeting, is ongoing in Hamburg, Germany and online.
24–26 October: The CEOs of some of the world’s leading telecoms operators are meeting in Paris for the 5G World Summit this week.
25–26 October: The European Commission’s Global Gateway Forum – dubbed the European response to China’s Belt and Road Forum – is taking place in Brussels.
25–27 October: Nashville, Tennessee, will host the 13th (ISC)2 Security Congress, convening the cybersecurity community in person and online.
| #ReadingCorner |
Online abuse of kids ‘escalating’
Child sexual exploitation and abuse online is escalating worldwide, in both scale and methods, the latest We Protect Global Alliance’s threat assessment warns. To put this into numerical perspective, the reports of abuse material reported in the USA in 2019 dwarfs the 32 million reports made in 2022. It gets worse: ‘The true scale of child sexual exploitation and abuse online is likely greater than this as a lot of harm is not reported.’ Read the report, including its recommendations.
If abuse is on the rise, why isn’t the tech industry doing more?
As the eSafety Commissioner of Australia noted last week, some of the biggest tech companies just aren’t living up to their responsibilities to halt the spread of online child sexual abuse content and livestreaming.
‘Within online businesses much of the child safety and wider consumer agenda is marked as an overhead cost not a profit centre …’, writes John Carr, a UK leading expert in child internet safety. ‘Companies will obey clearly stated laws. But the unvarnished truth is many are also willing to exploit any and all available wiggle room or ambiguity to minimise or delay the extent of their engagement with anything which does not contribute directly to the bottom line. If it makes them money they need no further encouragement. If it doesn’t, they do.’ Read the blog post.
