Leaked data exposes a Chinese AI censorship machine

A complaint about poverty in rural China. A news report about a corrupt Communist Party member. A cry for help about corrupt cops shaking down entrepreneurs. These are just a few of the 133,000 examples fed into a sophisticated large language model that’s designed to automatically flag any piece of content considered sensitive by the Chinese government. A leaked database seen by TechCrunch reveals China has developed an AI system that supercharges its already formidable censorship machine, extending far beyond traditional taboos like the Tiananmen Square massacre. The system appears primarily geared toward censoring Chinese citizens online but could be used for other purposes, like improving Chinese AI models’ already extensive censorship. This photo taken on June 4, 2019, shows the Chinese flag behind razor wire at a housing compound in Yengisar, south of Kashgar, in China’s western Xinjiang region. Image Credits:Greg Baker / AFP / Getty Images Xiao Qiang, a researcher at UC Berk ... Read full article.