China’s Zero-risk Approach to Generative AI Governance?

Date: December 11, 2024 (Wednesday)

Time: 5pm-6pm

Venue: Room 824, 8/F Cheng Yu Tung Tower, The University of Hong Kong

Speaker: Jiawei Zhang (Ph.D. Candidate & Research Fellow, Technical University of Munich)

To eliminate AI content risks, the Chinese government has embraced a zero-risk policy, culminating in a sweeping list of prohibited outputs outlined in Article 4 of its Interim Measures. Jiawei critiques this approach, placing large language models (LLMs) within the broader information ecosystem and exposing fundamental flaws in the policy design.

First, the pursuit of fully de-risking LLMs is unattainable. LLMs merely replicate the problems that have already existed in the information marketplace. As the whole information ecosystem is far from perfect, expecting LLMs to function as a zero-risk engine is unrealistic.

Additionally, Jiawei argues that the Chinese zero-risk approach is unnecessary. An AI chatbot’s output competes not only with other chatbots but also with other information outlets. Market forces, therefore, have great potential to incentivize AI companies to improve their output and derisk their systems automatically, voluntarily, and continuously.

Jiawei Zhang is a Ph.D. candidate and research fellow at the Technical University of Munich. He holds an M.Phil. from the University of Oxford on a full scholarship and an LL.M. from U.C. Berkeley Law School. His research interests include information technology law, competition law, AI governance, and comparative policy study of various jurisdictions.

Jiawei’s award-winning article, “The Paradox of Data Portability and Lock-In Effects,” won first place in the Harvard Journal of Law & Technology (JOLT) Note Competition and was published in volume 36.2. His recent essay, “ChatGPT as the Marketplace of Ideas,” was published in the Stanford Law & Policy Review Online. His forthcoming working paper will appear soon in the North Carolina Journal of Law & Technology and the Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property.

To register, please go to https://hkuems1.hku.hk/hkuems/ec_regform.aspx?guest=Y&UEID=96438