China's political advisors discuss AI ethical rules, laws

Wang Yang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), presides over the 45th biweekly consultation session of the 13th CPPCC National Committee in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 23, 2020. (Xinhua/Rao Aimin)

Chinese political advisors discussed and offered suggestions on artificial intelligence (AI)-related ethical and legal issues at a bi-weekly seminar on Wednesday, December 23.

The seminar, held by the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China's top political advisory body, was presided over by Wang Yang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the CPPCC National Committee.

Stressing taking advantage of AI to build China's strength in science, Wang called for treating the ethical and legal issues related to AI development from a dialectical, historical and comprehensive perspective.

Wang urged efforts to explore building an AI management framework that suits China's national reality to safeguard people's interests and national security.

Eleven political advisors put forward their suggestions at the seminar, while nearly 60 others voiced their opinions via an online platform.

They suggested paying attention to the potential ethical and legal risks that arise with AI technology, formulating relevant laws in areas such as face recognition, speech synthesis and autonomous driving, and strengthening the research on data property rights.

The political advisors also called for strengthening the responsibilities of enterprises in protecting individual information and privacy, and promoting international cooperation in formulating universal AI ethical rules.