China News Service via Getty Imagesby scholars from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences published in August. The draft favors developing the artificial intelligence industry over protections for users of AI systems and other humans.co-author and professor at the China University of Political Science and Law Zhang Linghan, amid today’s fierce global competition, “Not developing is the greatest security risk.
But in general, the draft is focused on creating a legal structure that benefits the rapid development of the industry. It highlights contributions the state should make to the AI industry, including policy support such as tax incentives and cultivating talent in universities. And the law engages with how and whether AI providers can appropriately use copyrighted material for training purposes, coming out in favor of developing the industry over protecting human work. According to Article 24, AI providers can use copyrighted data in training sets “if the use behavior is different from the original purpose or function of the data” and “does not unreasonably harm the legitimate rights and interests of the data rights holder.
In another pro-industry provision, the draft law favors copyright protections for AI-generated outputs “according to the degree of the user’s contribution to the final presentation of the content,” as long as the subject of the copyright or patent application is a human being. AI programs can’t modify AI-generated content and apply for copyright protections, but humans using text or image generators can—as long as they sufficiently alter the outputs.