Firms shouldn’t be guided by prejudice

Microsoft’s Xiaobing voice assistant reportedly avoiding ‘ sensitive’ topics

Foreign technology firms should develop a better understanding of Chinese culture rather than making decisions based on prejudice, a Chinese expert said after media reported that Xiaobing, Microsoft’s artificial intelligent ( AI) chat robot, may have developed a list of “sensitive words in China.”

Xiaobing would give no direct answers when sensitive topics are involved in the chat with users on WeChat, a popular messenger app in China, foreign media reported on Wednesday. Some Chinese users have reportedly listed the “sensitive words” that Xiaobing would avoid, including “human rights lawyer”, “chengguan” [ urban management officials] and “Tiananmen.”

Microsoft did not give a comment when reached by the Global Times on Thursday.

We could call it as adjustments based on prejudices if the company did set the “sensitive words list,” Qin An, deputy director with China Information Security Magazine, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

He added that the behavior is based on a distorted view that these “sensitive words” are forbidden from being discussed in China.

When asked about “Communist Party of China ( CPC),” Xiaobing turns testy, responding that “Do not talk about such things that I do not understand, I don’t understand, I do not understand…”

This is not the first time reports about foreign companies adopting self- censorship to operate in the Chinese market have surfaced.

Facebook Inc has quietly developed “a censorship tool” that could persuade China to allow the world’s biggest social media network to re- enter the world’s most populated nation after a seven- year ban, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.

Facebook developed the software, which suppresses posts from appearing in people’s news feeds in specific geographies, with the support of Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg, the newspaper said, citing unidentified current and former employees.

Foreign firms, which are attracted by the huge market potential in China, are expected to better understand the Chinese culture and obey the Chinese laws and regulations, Qin said, adding that ill- intended adjustments will do no good for their survival in China.

China’s first Cyber Security Law, which was adopted at the bimonthly session of the 12th National People’s Congress Standing Committee on November 7, is scheduled to go into effect in June 2017.

Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed the need to confidently protect cyberspace sovereignty as well as a greater voice in determining cyberspace rules on October 9 at a study session attended by members of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.

The Cyber Security Law is an important part of Xi’s call on protecting cyberspace sovereignty, as it substantially increases the ability to manage the Internet by law, Qin added.