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submitted 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) by schizoidman@lemmy.zip to c/world@quokk.au

cross-posted from : https://lemmy.zip/post/68060305

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Chinese leader Xi Jinping endorsed the building of open-source artificial-intelligence models, touting an approach that has helped the country catch up with the U.S. in global influence.

Xi depicted China as a champion of less-developed nations that fear being left behind as the Trump administration seeks to solidify U.S. dominance in AI. The new body will “answer the call of the Global South,” he said.

Xi said China would do more to help developing countries with AI training and seminars, and would set up AI-focused bodies within the multilateral groupings that China is a member of, including the Brics collection of large emerging economies and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization of Central Asian nations.

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[-] Sepia@mander.xyz 7 points 7 hours ago

Yeah, Open Source sounds great. I am just afraid that Xi Jinping has a different meaning of it than most people.

There are many good reports and studies about Chinese AI. The Media Journalism Research Center, for example, directly investigated how AI chatbots in China function as information hubs when responding to sensitive queries.

The focus is on whether, and how, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ideological priorities influence user-facing outputs. To enable meaningful comparison, identical prompt-based tests were conducted on domestic Chinese AI systems—such as DeepSeek, Doubao, and Ernie Bot—as well as on Western AI models to assess how they handle the same questions. [Here is the entire study as pdf download.]

It makes a good read, even the few prompt examples are very illuminating. It clearly reveals that Chinese 'Open Source' AI are just tools for Chinese Communist Party propaganda.

[-] Ferrous@lemmy.ml 1 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

It clearly reveals that Chinese 'Open Source' AI are just tools for Chinese Communist Party propaganda.

How do you figure? This is not the conclusion of this study. The study concludes with the fairly inoccuous point that a given country's AI systems will oftentimes mirror that country's values and government strategies. The word "propaganda" does not show up in the body of study a single time.

This study underscores a critical insight: AI chatbots are not neutral vessels of information. They are deeply embedded in political, cultural, and regulatory environments, and their outputs often reflect those influences. In China, for example, AI systems are explicitly tasked with reinforcing “core socialist values” and safeguarding state authority. This shapes not only what chatbots are permitted to say, but also how they transmit knowledge, define truth, and present information to align with state and societal ideologies.

For policymakers, the findings highlight the urgent need to integrate AI governance into broader debates around digital sovereignty, freedom of expression, and the integrity of public discourse. For developers, the research stresses the importance of transparency, context-aware design, and an awareness of how AI operates across jurisdictions and political systems. For users, understanding the potential for chatbot bias is now a key component of digital and AI literacy, recognizing that AI outputs are mediated, curated, and, at times, censored.

Before the conclusion, we see:

By contrast, Western chatbots like ChatGPT and Claude tend to reflect a wider range of perspectives, including international legal and human rights debates. This divergence illustrates how AI systems are deeply shaped by their geopolitical environments, reinforcing the notion that chatbot outputs are not neutral. Instead, they are embedded with ideological assumptions—raising broader implications for freedom of information, AI governance, and global epistemic plurality.

Anyone can run an experiment when the lead the question to AI. lmao at how chatgpt characterizes the Native American genocide versus DeepSeek.

[-] Sepia@mander.xyz 2 points 4 hours ago

@Ferrous@lemmy.ml

How do Chinese AIs respond to issues sensitive to the Chinese Communist Party compared to Western AIs?

[-] Ferrous@lemmy.ml 1 points 4 hours ago

They'd respond sensitively. Is that supposed to be some sort of gotcha?

How do western AIs response to issues sensitive to the west compared to Chinese AIs?

Similarly, more sensitively. Which is what your own study posits. Your point about the whole of the Chinese open source strategy being a means to push propaganda came out of your analysis - not the study to which you linked.

this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2026
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