The first known case of an arrest over ChatGPT generated content by an individual was recently being reported in China.
China has reportedly made its first arrest in relation to the use of an AI chatbot. The individual in question is said to have used ChatGPT to generate fake news about a train crash. The incident was first noticed on April 25, when authorities in Pingliang, Gansu province identified a fabricated news story that claimed a train had gone off the rails and hit a construction site, resulting in nine fatalities. Further investigation revealed that 21 accounts on Baidu’s blogging platform, Baijiahao, had all simultaneously posted the false story, collectively receiving at least 15,000 clicks before police intervened.
Following an investigation, Hong Moudi, a legal representative of a Shenzhen-based company operating personal media platforms, was identified as the source of the fake news. Hong reportedly confessed to using ChatGPT to create the story and bypassing Baijiahao’s anti-duplication system in order to disseminate the false news across multiple accounts, with the intention of making illegal profits from increased web traffic. Notably, ChatGPT is not currently available in China and can only be accessed via VPNs.
Hong is now facing a charge of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” which can carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison. However, in severe cases, such charges can lead to up to 10 years in prison, according to the South China Morning Post. Following the news of the arrest, one Weibo user commented that “he deserves to be severely punished for making profits by making up news and cheating traffic.” The case remains under investigation.
