Beijing’s rigorous push for chatbots with core socialist values is the latest roadblock in its effort to catch up to the U.S. in a race for artificial intelligence supremacy.
It’s also a timely reminder for the world that a chatbot cannot have its own political beliefs, the same way it cannot be expected to make human decisions.
It’s easy for finger-wagging Western observers to jump on recent reporting that China is forcing companies to undergo intensive political tests as more evidence that AI development will be kneecapped by the government’s censorship regime. The arduous process adds a painstaking layer of work for tech firms and restricting the freedom to experiment can impede innovation.