ChatGPT 在中國遭到「封鎖」：中國官方擔心美國的聊天機器人會在網路上進行大外宣 (外電翻譯)

中國已經封鎖了 OpenAI 的聊天機器人 ChatGPT，擔心該公司將使用人工智慧來散佈宣傳。全國各大科技公司已被要求不對外公開該聊天機器人，特別是社交媒體應用程式的公司。
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據 Nikkie Asia 報導，禁令是由於 ChatGPT 產生的回覆被中國共產黨視為需要進行審查的內容。
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但是，使用者透過虛擬私人網絡（VPN）和在 Tencent 的 WeChat 社交媒體應用程式上發布的許多由第三方開發人員提供的「小程序」，找到了一個解決方法，這些「小程序」聲稱能夠提供 ChatGPT 的服務。
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報導稱，中國監管機構告訴科技公司 Tencent 和 Ant Group（電子商務巨頭阿里巴巴的一個子公司），限制對 ChatGPT 的使用權限，並應在發布自己的聊天機器人之前向官方報告。
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中國是全球對網路和媒體限制最嚴格的國家之一，因為它控制著新聞、網路環境和社交媒體平台。
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ChatGPT 加入了 Facebook、Instagram、Reddit、YouTube、Wikipedia 和一些 Google 服務的行列，這些網站在中國全國內也都是被封鎖的。
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然而，美國出於跟中國官方對 ChatGPT 的擔憂相同的原因，試圖禁止中國應用程式 TikTok。
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官媒《中國日報》在微博上發文說，ChatGPT「可能幫助美國政府散佈虛假訊息，和為自己的地緣政治利益操縱全世界的觀點。」
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而全球人民可能對此舉感到驚訝，但在中國科技行業中，人們已經預見了這種封禁。
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另一位來自另一家領先中國科技公司的高管表示，該公司在禁令之前就沒有計劃使用 ChatGPT。
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這位人士說：「我們已經成為中國監管機構的目標（在近年來對科技行業的打壓中），所以即使沒有這樣的禁令，我們也不會主動在我們的平台上加入 ChatGPT，因為它的回覆是不可控制的。」
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「一定會有一些使用者詢問政治敏感問題，但平台將對結果負責。」
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本月稍早，CNBC 報導了包括阿里巴巴和網易在內的中國公司計劃推出 ChatGPT 複製品的消息。
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阿里巴巴透過其雲端產品部門宣布，正在研發一個以人工智慧為基礎的聊天機器人，將把它加入到其雲端計算產品中。
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倫敦國王學院的中國和東亞商業高級講師孫欣告訴CNBC：「在他們的回應中可以看到，這些科技巨頭面臨著兩難：在另一方面，他們也需要說服消費者和投資者，他們在新技術的發展上並不落後。」
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美國的行業也在採取類似的舉措。
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摩根大通本周透露，出於對數據隱私的擔憂，將限制公司約 25 萬名員工使用ChatGPT。
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這些限制涉及到這家華爾街巨頭的不同部門。據彭博社報導，這不是因為任何特定事件，而是該公司對「第三方軟體的正常控制」的一部分。
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摩根大通的老闆們擔心平台上共享的訊息可能被洩漏，引起監管機構的擔憂。
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ChatGPT 是由開創人兼 Twitter 首席執行官伊隆·馬斯克創立的初創公司 OpenAI 發明的，總部位於舊金山。
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該系統原型於 2022 年 11 月 30 日上線，受歡迎的程度迅速攀升，第一週就吸引了超過 100 萬名用戶。
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ChatGPT 使用一種稱為人類建議強化學習（RLHF）的機器學習技術。
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這意味著它是透過與環境互動來學習。
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這個模型是從書籍、網頁文本、維基百科文章和其他網路文本，收集到 570 GB 的資料數據所進行訓練的。

China has blocked OpenAI’s ChatGPT over fears the American company will use the AI to spread propaganda.

Major tech companies nationwide have been ordered not to offer the chatbot to the public, specifically firms in the social media app business.

The ban is due to ChatGPT generating replies that the Chinese Communist Party would otherwise censor, according to Nikkie Asia.

However, users have found a workaround with a virtual private network (VPN) and dozens of ‘mini programs’ released by third-party developers on Tencent’s WeChat social media app that claim to offer services from ChatGPT.

The report states that Chinese regulators told tech firms Tencent and Ant Group (a subsidiary of e-commerce giant Alibaba) to restrict access to  ChatGPT and report to officials prior to releasing their own chatbots.

China is one of the world’s most restrictive regarding the internet and media, as it controls the news, online environment and social media platforms.

And ChatGPT joins the likes of Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, YouTube Wikipedia and some Google services that are also blocked nationwide.

However, the US has also looked to ban the Chinese app TikTok over the same fears Chinese officials have with ChatGPT.

State-owned media outlet China Daily posted on Weibo that ChatGPT ‘could provide a helping hand to the U.S. government in its spread of disinformation and its manipulation of global narratives for its own geopolitical interests.’

And while people worldwide may be surprised by the move, those in China’s tech industry saw the ban coming.

‘Our understanding from the beginning is that ChatGPT can never enter China due to issues with censorship, and China will need its own versions of ChatGPT,’ one executive from a leading tech company told Nikkei.

An executive from another leading Chinese tech player said the firm had no plans to use ChatGPT – even before the ban.

‘We have already been a target of the Chinese regulator [amid the tech industry crackdown in recent years], so even if there were no such ban, we would never take the initiative to add ChatGPT to our platforms because its responses are uncontrollable,’ the person said.

‘There will inevitably be some users who ask the chatbot politically sensitive questions, but the platform would be held accountable for the results.’

Earlier this month, CNBC reported that Chinese companies, including Alibaba and NetEase, announced plans to launch their ChatGPT copycats.

Alibaba announced via its cloud division that it is working on an AI-powered chatbot that would be integrated into its cloud computing products.

And NetEase said it could add the technology to some of its education products.

Xin Sun, senior lecturer in Chinese and East Asian business at King’s College London, told CNBC: ‘In their responses, these tech giants face a dilemma: on the one hand they need to convince consumers and investors that they are not lagging behind in the development of the new technology.’

Industries in the US are also making similar moves.

Jp Morgan revealed this week that it is restricting use of ChatGPT among the company’s some 250,000 staff over concerns about data privacy.

The restrictions stretch across the Wall Street giant’s different divisions. Its implementation is not due to any specific incident but is part of the company’s ‘normal controls around third-party software,’ reports Bloomberg.

Bosses at JP Morgan are concerned that information shared across the platform could be leaked and lead to regulatory concerns.

OpenAI invented ChatGPT, a startup co-founded by billionaire and Twitter CEO Elon Musk, and is headquartered in San Francisco.

A system prototype went online on November 30, 2022, and quickly climbed the popularity ladder, garnishing over one million users in its first week.

ChatGPT uses a machine-learning technique called Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF).

This means it learns through interactions with its environment.

The model was trained with 570 GB of data collected from books, web text, Wikipedia articles and other online writings.