A new Chinese chatbot is inspired by communist leader Xi Jinping

China has introduced a chatbot inspired by Xi Jinping, using a collection of his writings and speeches, including more than a dozen books attributed to the leader.

This new addition to digital communication takes inspiration from official Jinping literature, moving away from the futuristic idea of mind-reading technology.

Chinese President Xi Jinping greets during the meeting between members of the standing committee of the Political Bureau of the 20th CPC Central Committee and Chinese and foreign journalists at the Great Hall of the People, October 23, 2022, in Beijing, China. (Photo: Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

Imitating Xi Jinping’s ideology

In the field of digital interactions, a new player is emerging: a chatbot modeled on none other than Xi Jinping, the eminent Chinese leader.

Unlike the futuristic notion of accessing someone’s thoughts, this creation draws inspiration from a comprehensive compilation of Jinping’s speeches and writings.

The Financial Times reported that instead of using mind-reading technology, the developers relied on a vast array of its official literature, including more than a dozen books purportedly written by Jinping himself.

This reservoir also includes government regulations, policy documents, state media reports, and other authorized publications, all of which contribute to the chatbot’s training dataset.

Xi Jinping’s political ideology, dubbed “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era”, took shape under his leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

In line with this philosophy, the chatbot was programmed using a range of official literature, including more than 12 purported books written by President Xi.

This training corpus encompasses government directives, policy documents, state media coverage and various other official publications.

The chatbot’s training dataset contained a staggering 86,000 references to Xi Jinping, highlighting the alignment of citizens’ thoughts, policies and actions with the Party Central Committee.

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With such language dominating its training material, one can only imagine the conversational tone this chatbot could adopt.

Although the technology remains inaccessible to the public, it is currently operational at a research center overseen by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), signaling potential future deployment on a larger scale.

The model serves as a foundational chatbot with capabilities to respond to inquiries, generate reports, condense data, and facilitate Chinese-English translation.

Nevertheless, its likely spread of Xi Jinping’s ideologies in the political, economic and cultural domains makes it significant.

Chinese AI Regulations and Implications

The move comes amid ongoing efforts by Chinese authorities to propagate Xi Jinping’s ideologies and strengthen the preeminence of his authoritarian rule.

Notably, Xi’s alleged authorship of more than a dozen books often attracts attention at national literary exhibitions.

Major news platforms highlight content from official state media, spotlighting Xi. Furthermore, the integration of its political doctrine into educational programs, even for children as young as ten years old, highlights the potential usefulness of the chatbot in educational contexts.

China’s strict regulations on AI models mean major Western offerings such as ChatGPT and Google Gemini are absent from the market. The CAC requires that the country’s AI providers respect core socialist values and refrain from generating content that challenges state authority.

Therefore, domestic companies like Baidu and Alibaba are forced to strictly regulate their AI models, especially regarding topics related to Xi Jinping or other sensitive topics.

This poses a significant hurdle for many companies because a considerable portion of their model training data includes English language content.

This reliance on English-language data increases the risk of generating responses that violate China’s strict speech regulations.

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