Tech can play ‘positive, proactive’ role
Deploy intelligent tech in implementing Xi’s ‘Three Initiatives’, says China Daily publisher
As digital technology becomes a pioneering force in driving the global technological revolution and industrial transformation, more effort is needed to allow intelligent technology to promote the national goal of the “building of a community with a shared future for mankind”, according to Qu Yingpu, publisher and editor-in-chief of China Daily.
Speaking at the Vision China event on May 18, Qu said that artificial intelligence, represented by ChatGPT, in particular, has become a buzzword, and many foreign experts believe that its advent is as important as the arrival of the PC or the internet.
Standing for “Chat Generative Pretrained Transformer”, ChatGPT is an AI chatbot developed by OpenAI, a company based in the United States. It has wowed the world with its ability to take on tasks such as writing essays, debugging programs and making business plans, abilities that differentiate it from earlier, more narrowly focused AI projects that excelled in only one area.
Though different views on GPT exist, it is widely hoped that the latest technology will play a “positive and proactive” role in improving world well-being, Qu said.
According to him, this potential can be fully leveraged to promote the “building of a community with a shared future for mankind”, a concept first proposed by President Xi Jinping in March 2013. “In the future, we should give full rein to the role of intelligent technology in implementing the ‘Three Initiatives’ proposed by President Xi, “Qu added. This refers to the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative.
He made the comments as global economic recovery faces challenges, with problems including the disparity in development, dilemmas of governance, the digital divide and the equity deficit becoming more prominent. Concerns also exist that a new digital divide may emerge in the intelligence era.
“We should bridge the digital divide and create cohesiveness for the implementation of the Global Development Initiative,” Qu said.
The publisher highlighted the fact that more effort is needed to nurture new drivers of economic growth in the post-epidemic era and create an open, fair, just, and nondiscriminatory environment for scientific and technological development.
While praising the convenience and potential dividends that intelligent technology offers humanity, Qu also acknowledged that it is a double-edged sword and may create many challenges, as well as ethical issues.
“We should improve global governance of science and technology, and ensure intelligent technology evolves in the right direction to provide a strong pillar for global security,” Qu said.
In February, the Chinese Foreign Ministry published The Global Security Initiative Concept Paper, which called for greater efforts to strengthen international governance of AI and other emerging technologies to prevent potential security risks.
An analysis of the legislative records of 127 countries shows that the number of bills containing the term “artificial intelligence” that were passed into law grew to 37 last year from just one in 2016, according to the AI Index Report 2023 produced by Stanford University.
“AI has moved into its era of deployment; throughout 2022 and the beginning of 2023, new largescale AI models have been released every month,” Jack Clark, co-director of the Stanford Institute of HumanCentered Artificial Intelligence, wrote in the report.
“Given the increased presence of
AI and its potential for massive disruption, we should all begin thinking more critically about how exactly we want AI to be developed and deployed.”
As intelligent technology injects new vitality into global development, Qu also highlighted the importance of promoting exchanges to empower the implementation of the Global Civilization Initiative.
“We should further tap into the potential of intelligent technology and explore scenario-based, smart applications of cutting-edge technology to build new platforms for dialogue among civilizations, and for cross-cultural communication,” Qu said.
By way of example, China Daily set up the MetaTime studio last year, which combines research from major projects such as the national project to trace the origins of Chinese civilization, and new technology such as the metaverse, to showcase the charm and significance of China’s traditional culture and show the world a credible, attractive and respectable China.
The move resonates with the public’s growing enthusiasm for AI. Citizens from China, Saudi Arabia and India are among those who feel the most positively about AI products and services, according to a survey of nearly 20,000 adults from 28 countries by Ipsos, a global market research group.
About 78 percent of Chinese respondents, the highest proportion among surveyed countries, agreed with the statement that products and services using AI have more benefits than drawbacks. This was followed by Saudi Arabia (76 percent) and India (71 percent), Ipsos added.