American billionaire Elon Musk said on Monday that senior Chinese officials told him during his recent trip to Beijing about plans to introduce new rules on artificial intelligence.
Last week, Twitter owner, Tesla CEO and one of the world’s richest men held meetings with senior officials in Beijing and employees in Shanghai.
“Remarkably, during my recent trip to China, I had some very productive discussions with Chinese officials about the dangers of artificial intelligence and the need for some oversight or regulation,” Musk said during a meeting with Democratic politician Robert Francis Kennedy Jr. . ., via “Twitter Spaces”.
“From these negotiations, I understood that China will begin to regulate artificial intelligence in the country,” he added.
Musk, whose broad interests in China have long baffled Washington, spoke of a live Twitter exchange of debates with Democratic presidential candidate and vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert Kennedy Jr., JFK’s nephew.
Musk did not tweet while in China, and Tesla did not release reports of Musk’s meeting with officials, but official Chinese channels reported that the American billionaire praised the country, including its vitality, and expressed full confidence in the Chinese market.
Scores of Chinese companies have rushed to develop AI services that can mimic human speech since San Francisco-based OpenAI launched ChatGPT in November, but these rapid developments have sparked global concern about potential abuse and misuse of the technology.
Musk didn’t go into detail about his discussions in China, but he was likely referring to a sweeping bill that would require new AI products to undergo safety assessments before release to ensure they reflect “core socialist values.”
In Beijing on Wednesday, an American businessman praised China’s momentum, emphasizing his full confidence in this vital market.
On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Qin Gang received Musk, who reaffirmed his group’s desire to “continue to develop its activities in China,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.
On Wednesday, during a meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, he praised China’s “vitality and development potential.”
The same source added that Elon Musk reaffirmed his full confidence in the Chinese market and stated that he “would like to continue to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation.”
Source: AFP.