Chatting with a fake ScarJo isn’t doing it for you? Why not try talking to the leader of China? There’s a new chatbot in town and it’s based on Xi Jinping. In fact, it was trained using the ‘thoughts’ of the Chinese leader. I put thoughts in quotes because researchers were not using new mind-reading technology. Chinese officials used some of his books and papers only for training purposes, a spokesman said .
His political philosophy is collectively known as ‘Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era’ or, simply, ‘Xi Jinping Thought’. This ideological doctrine emerged during his tenure as leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). With that in mind, the chatbot was trained on official literature that falls under that umbrella, including more than a dozen books reportedly written by Xi Jinping himself. The training package also includes government regulations, policy documents, state media reports and other official publications.
A single document examined by The Financial times used to train the chatbot contained more than 86,000 mentions of Xi Jinping, with language urging citizens to “ensure that in thought, politics and action, we are always highly aligned with the Party Central Committee, with Secretary General Xi Jinping as the core. ” This chatbot should be really fun at parties.
The technology has not yet been rolled out to the general public. It is being used in a research center under the supervision of the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), although it may eventually be released for wider use. The model can answer questions, create reports, summarize information and translate between Chinese and English. It’s a simple chatbot, but one that is likely to spread Xi’s ideas on politics, economics and culture.
The move comes amid extensive efforts by Chinese officials to promote the philosophies of Xi and his authoritarian state. As previously mentioned, more than a dozen books are attributed to the leader, and these are typically front and center at the country’s book fairs. Popular news apps from companies like Tencent and NetEase reserve spots at the top of feeds for articles from official state media, and most of these posts feature Xi. Children aged ten and over should study his political philosophy so that the chatbot can find its use there.
Major Western AI models are not available in China, as the CAC mandates that generative AI providers “embody core socialist values” and that the output of any chatbot “must not contain any content that undermines state power.” So there is no ChatGPT, Google Gemini or anything like that. Chinese companies like Baidu and Alibaba must ensure that their models strictly control the generated content related to Xi or other sensitive issues.
This is a huge challenge for these companies, as most groups train their models with English-language data. This introduces the potential for responses that violate the country’s speech rules. To get around this, Chinese chatbots will typically restart the chat when asked about sensitive topics. However, the country is leading in this area. With that in mind, Xi Jinping may well embrace his philosophy from now until the end of time.
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