The rapid development of generative AI technology brings multiple challenges.
With the rapid development of science and technology, generative AI (artificial intelligence) technology is developing at an alarming rate and has become a key force to promote global industrial upgrading. In 2024, many Nobel Prize winners focused on the AI field, further highlighting the far-reaching influence of AI on a global scale. At the same time, the Convention on Artificial Intelligence, signed by more than 100 companies including OpenAI, Google and Microsoft, also highlights the great attention and standardized pursuit of AI technology development worldwide.
As a big country in science and technology, China actively responded to the development trend of global AI technology and put forward the "Inclusive Plan for Artificial Intelligence Capacity Building". In this context, generative AI technology has made remarkable achievements in China, bringing unprecedented changes and opportunities to all walks of life. However, just as a coin has two sides, the rapid development of generative AI technology is accompanied by a series of problems that cannot be ignored.
The Phenomenon of AI "magic change" Classic Film and Television Worksserious
In recent years, with the continuous development and application of AI technology, some short video producers began to use AI technology to "magic change" classic film and television works, creating a lot of absurd content. For example, A Dream of Red Mansions has become a "martial arts drama", the Monkey King and Lu Zhishen have become good friends, Tang Priest smokes and falls in love, and Zhuge Liang drinks red wine and plays mobile phones … These "magic change" contents are contrary to the original spiritual core and are suspected of infringement, which not only destroys the integrity and artistic value of classic works, but also damages the feelings and interests of fans.
Source/CCTV News Screenshot
Recently, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) issued the Management Tips (AI magic change) in response to the chaos of the classic film and television works of AI "magic change", requiring all relevant short video platforms to investigate and clean up the short videos of AI "magic change" film and television dramas, and give feedback on their work within a time limit. At the same time, the platform is required to strictly implement the content audit requirements of generative artificial intelligence, conduct self-examination on the large model or AI special effects functions developed by the platform, strictly access and monitor related technical products, and make significant hints on the AI generated content.
However, although the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television has taken active measures to rectify it, the phenomenon of AI "magic change" still exists, which reflects the difficulty and challenge of technical supervision.
The phenomenon of AI "magic change" has not only brought legal disputes about copyright and reputation, but also caused social concerns about cultural inheritance and values. Some experts believe that AI "magic change" will subvert the new generation’s understanding of traditional culture, deconstruct traditional serious literature, and affect the health of online audio-visual environment and the seriousness of cultural inheritance. At the same time, "magic change" may also affect teenagers’ historical views and values, leading to the misunderstanding of history and culture by minors. This is not only not conducive to the healthy growth and all-round development of teenagers, but also to the inheritance and development of social culture.
Legal risks and judicial problems that can not be ignored
Zhang Ping, vice president of Wuhan Institute of Artificial Intelligence in Peking University and executive vice president and secretary general of China Science and Technology Law Society, pointed out that the development and application of generative AI brought a series of legal risks and judicial application problems. These issues not only involve the protection of intellectual property rights, the protection of personal privacy, the authenticity and reliability of the content, but also may lead to new legal issues such as the legal subject status of AI and the determination of tort liability because of its intelligent characteristics.
Deep forgery technology is one of the primary legal risks brought by generative AI technology. With the help of advanced technologies such as GANs, deep forgery technology can create highly realistic false content. Once this technology is abused, it will easily lead to the proliferation of false information, damage social trust and undermine public interests. For example, the "Room N of Seoul National University Edition" incident exposed in South Korea this year and another "Deepfake" incident involving underage girls are typical examples of the abuse of deep forgery technology.
In the front-end data training, the generative AI technology needs massive data as support. However, in practice, unauthorized use of works data without the permission of the copyright owner occurs from time to time, which infringes on the legitimate rights and interests of the copyright owner. The first case of generative AI infringement in China is a typical example, which not only aroused widespread concern from all walks of life, but also prompted people to think deeply about how to effectively prevent and deal with the intellectual property risks brought by generative AI technology.
In addition, in the model training and application stage, because the data set may not be desensitized enough, it contains relevant privacy information or sensitive personal information, which greatly increases the risk of privacy leakage. At the same time, when generating content, generative AI may improperly use these personal information, thus inadvertently revealing privacy in user interaction, posing a serious threat to the user’s personal information security. This kind of risk not only affects individual users, but also may pose a potential threat to enterprise and national security.
Zhang Ping also introduced that in judicial practice, generative AI technology also brought many difficulties. First of all, the legal subject status of human-driven digital virtual human has become the focus. With the continuous development of AI technology, human-driven digital virtual human is more and more widely used in entertainment, business and other fields. However, in judicial practice, there is still a negative attitude towards the identification of the legal subject of the reality-driven digital virtual person, which is not a natural person in the legal sense. Although this position reflects the adaptability and prudence of the law to emerging technological phenomena, it also exposes the dilemma and lag of the law in the identification of AI subjects.
Secondly, there is a problem of incompatibility between the existing system norms and practice. The emergence of generative AI technology has led to extensive discussions on legal issues such as intellectual property infringement, privacy and personal information protection. The root of these legal problems lies in the contradiction between the lack of existing institutional norms and the demand of practice for corresponding institutional norms. How to seek a balance between promoting technological development and protecting legitimate rights and interests has become the focus of practice and an urgent problem to be solved.
Finally, the identification of tort liability of generative AI has also become a major problem in judicial practice. Because the content generated by AI contains the dual contributions of user instructions and AI service providers’ technical tools, it is difficult to accurately define the infringing actors in copyright infringement disputes. This not only increases the difficulty and complexity of judicial trial, but also intensifies the contradictions and conflicts among relevant stakeholders.
Source /AI drawing generation
Measures to deal with the technical challenges of generative AI
Faced with the legal risks, judicial problems and other challenges brought by generative AI technology, experts suggest that relevant departments should take active and effective measures to deal with them.
First, it is necessary to improve the system of laws and regulations and clarify the legal status and regulatory requirements of generative AI technology. By formulating special laws and regulations or revising existing laws and regulations, the production AI technology will be brought into the scope of legal supervision, and its legal liability and tort liability identification standards will be clarified. At the same time, strengthen the publicity and popularization of laws and regulations, and improve the public’s awareness and awareness of the legal risks of generative AI technology.
The second is to strengthen the supervision and self-discipline mechanism. Establish and improve the supervision system of generative AI technology, and strengthen the supervision of related enterprises and platforms. At the same time, enterprises and platforms are encouraged to strengthen the construction of self-discipline mechanisms, improve internal management systems and technical means, and improve risk prevention and response capabilities. In addition, it is necessary to strengthen cross-departmental and cross-regional collaborative supervision and cooperation mechanism construction, and form a joint force to jointly meet the challenges brought by generative AI technology.
The third is to increase technological research and innovation. By increasing investment in technology research and development and innovation, we will promote the continuous development and improvement of generative AI technology. At the same time, strengthen the transformation and application promotion of technology research and development and innovation achievements, and promote the wide application and deep integration development of generative AI technology in various fields. While promoting the development of technology, we should pay attention to protecting legitimate rights and interests and balancing the interests of all parties, so as to realize the harmonious symbiosis between technology and society.
Experts said that the rapid development of generative AI technology has brought a series of challenges and problems, which need to be faced squarely and actively addressed. Through improving laws and regulations, strengthening supervision and self-discipline, and enhancing public awareness and literacy, we will jointly promote the healthy development and wide application of generative AI technology.