TLDR; Below is the English-translated version of China’s Interim Measures for the Management of Generative AI Services (生成式人工智能服务管理暂行办法, Cyberspace Administration of China Order No. 15), promulgated July 10, 2023 and in effect since August 15, 2023.
If your company offers a chatbot, a writing assistant, an image generator, or any other generative AI feature to the public in mainland China, these Measures are the country’s first national rules deciding whether that service may lawfully operate — setting obligations on training data, content moderation, personal information handling, the labeling of AI-generated media, and, for services able to shape public opinion, a prior security assessment and algorithm filing. They build directly on the Cybersecurity Law, the Data Security Law, and the Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL). They also cross-reference the Deep Synthesis Provisions for content labeling (Article 12) and the Algorithm Recommendation Provisions for algorithm filing (Article 17).
Interim Measures for the Management of Generative AI Services (Promulgated July 10, 2023 by Order No. 15 of the Cyberspace Administration of China and six other departments; effective August 15, 2023)
Chapter I — General Provisions
Article 1. These Measures are formulated in accordance with the “Cybersecurity Law of the People’s Republic of China,” the “Data Security Law of the People’s Republic of China,” the “Personal Information Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China,” the “Law of the People’s Republic of China on Progress of Science and Technology,” and other laws and administrative regulations, in order to promote the healthy development and standardized application of generative artificial intelligence, safeguard national security and the public interest of society, and protect the lawful rights and interests of citizens, legal persons, and other organizations.
Article 2. These Measures apply to the use of generative artificial intelligence technology to provide services for generating text, images, audio, video, and other content to the public within the territory of the People’s Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as “generative artificial intelligence services”).
Where the State has other provisions on the use of generative artificial intelligence services to engage in activities such as news publishing, film and television production, or literary and artistic creation, those provisions shall prevail.
These Measures do not apply where industry organizations, enterprises, educational and scientific research institutions, public cultural institutions, relevant professional institutions, and the like research, develop, or apply generative artificial intelligence technology without providing generative artificial intelligence services to the public within China.
Article 3. The State adheres to the principles of attaching equal importance to development and security and of combining the promotion of innovation with governance in accordance with the law; it adopts effective measures to encourage the innovative development of generative artificial intelligence and applies inclusive, prudent, tiered, and categorized supervision to generative artificial intelligence services.
Article 4. The provision and use of generative artificial intelligence services shall comply with laws and administrative regulations, respect social morality and ethics, and observe the following provisions:
(1) Upholding the core socialist values, and not generating content prohibited by laws and administrative regulations, such as content that incites subversion of state power or the overthrow of the socialist system, endangers national security and interests or damages the national image, incites secession from the country or undermines national unity and social stability, propagates terrorism or extremism, propagates ethnic hatred or ethnic discrimination, or involves violence, obscenity and pornography, or false and harmful information;
(2) In the processes of algorithm design, selection of training data, model generation and optimization, provision of services, and the like, taking effective measures to prevent discrimination based on ethnicity, belief, nationality, region, gender, age, occupation, health, and the like;
(3) Respecting intellectual property rights and commercial ethics, keeping commercial secrets confidential, and not using advantages such as algorithms, data, or platforms to engage in monopolistic or unfair competition conduct;
(4) Respecting the lawful rights and interests of others, not endangering the physical or mental health of others, and not infringing upon the portrait rights, reputation rights, honor rights, privacy rights, and personal information rights and interests of others;
(5) Based on the characteristics of the type of service, taking effective measures to enhance the transparency of generative artificial intelligence services and to improve the accuracy and reliability of generated content.
Chapter II — Technology Development and Governance
Article 5. The innovative application of generative artificial intelligence technology across all industries and fields is encouraged, as is the generation of positive, healthy, and uplifting high-quality content, the exploration and optimization of application scenarios, and the building of an application ecosystem.
Support is given to industry organizations, enterprises, educational and scientific research institutions, public cultural institutions, relevant professional institutions, and the like in carrying out collaboration on matters such as innovation in generative artificial intelligence technology, the development of data resources, transformation and application, and risk prevention.
Article 6. Independent innovation in basic technologies such as generative artificial intelligence algorithms, frameworks, chips, and supporting software platforms is encouraged, as is international exchange and cooperation conducted on the basis of equality and mutual benefit, and participation in the formulation of international rules relating to generative artificial intelligence.
The construction of generative artificial intelligence infrastructure and public training-data resource platforms shall be promoted. The coordinated sharing of computing-power resources shall be promoted, and the efficiency of utilization of computing-power resources shall be improved. The orderly, tiered, and categorized opening of public data shall be promoted, and high-quality public training-data resources shall be expanded. The adoption of secure and trustworthy chips, software, tools, computing power, and data resources is encouraged.
Article 7. Generative artificial intelligence service providers (hereinafter referred to as “providers”) shall, in accordance with the law, carry out training-data processing activities such as pre-training and optimization training, and shall observe the following provisions:
(1) Using data and foundation models that have a lawful source;
(2) Where intellectual property rights are involved, not infringing upon the intellectual property rights that others enjoy in accordance with the law;
(3) Where personal information is involved, obtaining the consent of the individual or complying with the other circumstances provided for in laws and administrative regulations;
(4) Taking effective measures to improve the quality of training data and to enhance the authenticity, accuracy, objectivity, and diversity of training data;
(5) Complying with the other relevant provisions of laws and administrative regulations such as the “Cybersecurity Law of the People’s Republic of China,” the “Data Security Law of the People’s Republic of China,” and the “Personal Information Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China,” as well as the relevant supervisory requirements of the competent authorities concerned.
Article 8. Where data annotation is carried out in the course of researching and developing generative artificial intelligence technology, the provider shall formulate clear, specific, and operable annotation rules that meet the requirements of these Measures; shall conduct quality assessments of the data annotation and verify the accuracy of the annotated content by sampling; and shall provide necessary training to annotation personnel to enhance their awareness of respecting and complying with the law, and shall supervise and guide annotation personnel in carrying out annotation work in a standardized manner.
Chapter III — Service Specifications
Article 9. Providers shall, in accordance with the law, bear responsibility as producers of online information content and perform network information security obligations. Where personal information is involved, they shall, in accordance with the law, bear responsibility as personal information handlers and perform personal information protection obligations.
Providers shall enter into service agreements with generative artificial intelligence service users who register for their services (hereinafter referred to as “users”), specifying the rights and obligations of both parties.
Article 10. Providers shall specify and disclose the applicable population, circumstances, and uses of their services, guide users to understand generative artificial intelligence technology scientifically and rationally and to use it in accordance with the law, and take effective measures to prevent minor users from over-relying on or becoming addicted to generative artificial intelligence services.
Article 11. Providers shall perform their protection obligations with respect to users’ input information and usage records in accordance with the law; they shall not collect unnecessary personal information, shall not unlawfully retain input information and usage records that can identify a user’s identity, and shall not unlawfully provide users’ input information and usage records to others.
Providers shall, in accordance with the law, accept and handle in a timely manner individuals’ requests to access, copy, correct, supplement, or delete their personal information, and the like.
Article 12. Providers shall label generated content such as images and videos in accordance with the “Provisions on the Administration of Deep Synthesis of Internet Information Services.”
Article 13. Providers shall, in the course of their services, provide secure, stable, and continuous services, ensuring the normal use of those services by users.
Article 14. Where a provider discovers unlawful content, it shall promptly take disposal measures such as stopping generation, stopping transmission, and removal; shall take measures such as model optimization training to carry out rectification; and shall report to the competent authorities concerned.
Where a provider discovers that a user is using generative artificial intelligence services to engage in unlawful activities, it shall, in accordance with the law and the agreement, take disposal measures such as issuing a warning, restricting functions, or suspending or terminating the provision of services to the user; shall preserve the relevant records; and shall report to the competent authorities concerned.
Article 15. Providers shall establish and improve complaint and reporting mechanisms, set up convenient complaint and reporting portals, publish the handling procedures and the time limits for feedback, and accept and handle public complaints and reports in a timely manner and provide feedback on the results of handling.
Chapter IV — Supervision, Inspection, and Legal Liability
Article 16. The departments of cyberspace affairs, development and reform, education, science and technology, industry and information technology, public security, radio and television, news and publishing, and the like shall, in accordance with their respective responsibilities and in accordance with the law, strengthen the administration of generative artificial intelligence services.
The relevant competent authorities of the State shall, in response to the characteristics of generative artificial intelligence technology and its service applications in relevant industries and fields, refine scientific supervisory methods suited to innovative development, and formulate corresponding tiered and categorized supervisory rules or guidelines.
Article 17. Those providing generative artificial intelligence services with public-opinion attributes or the capacity for social mobilization shall conduct a security assessment in accordance with the relevant provisions of the State, and shall perform the procedures for algorithm filing and for the modification and cancellation of filing in accordance with the “Provisions on the Administration of Algorithm Recommendation of Internet Information Services.”
Article 18. Where a user discovers that a generative artificial intelligence service does not conform to the provisions of laws, administrative regulations, or these Measures, the user has the right to file a complaint or report with the competent authorities concerned.
Article 19. The competent authorities concerned shall conduct supervision and inspection of generative artificial intelligence services in accordance with their responsibilities, and providers shall cooperate in accordance with the law, explaining as required the source, scale, and type of training data, the annotation rules, the algorithm mechanisms and principles, and the like, and providing necessary technical, data, and other support and assistance.
The relevant institutions and personnel participating in the security assessment and the supervision and inspection of generative artificial intelligence services shall, in accordance with the law, keep confidential the state secrets, commercial secrets, personal privacy, and personal information that they become aware of in the performance of their duties, and shall not disclose such information or unlawfully provide it to others.
Article 20. Where generative artificial intelligence services originating from outside the territory of the People’s Republic of China and provided to recipients within the territory do not conform to the provisions of laws, administrative regulations, or these Measures, the State cyberspace administration department shall notify the relevant institutions to take technical measures and other necessary measures to deal with the matter.
Article 21. Where a provider violates the provisions of these Measures, the competent authorities concerned shall impose penalties in accordance with the provisions of laws and administrative regulations such as the “Cybersecurity Law of the People’s Republic of China,” the “Data Security Law of the People’s Republic of China,” the “Personal Information Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China,” and the “Law of the People’s Republic of China on Progress of Science and Technology”; where laws and administrative regulations contain no such provisions, the competent authorities concerned shall, in accordance with their responsibilities, give a warning or a circulated criticism and order corrections within a time limit; where corrections are refused or the circumstances are serious, they shall order the suspension of the provision of the relevant services.
Where a violation of public security administration is constituted, a public security administration penalty shall be given in accordance with the law; where a crime is constituted, criminal liability shall be pursued in accordance with the law.
Chapter V — Supplementary Provisions
Article 22. The terms used in these Measures have the following meanings:
(1) “Generative artificial intelligence technology” means models and related technologies that have the capability to generate content such as text, images, audio, and video.
(2) “Generative artificial intelligence service provider” means an organization or individual that uses generative artificial intelligence technology to provide generative artificial intelligence services (including providing generative artificial intelligence services by means such as providing a programmable interface).
(3) “Generative artificial intelligence service user” means an organization or individual that uses generative artificial intelligence services to generate content.
Article 23. Where laws or administrative regulations provide that the provision of generative artificial intelligence services requires obtaining a relevant administrative license, the provider shall obtain the license in accordance with the law.
Foreign investment in generative artificial intelligence services shall comply with the provisions of the relevant laws and administrative regulations on foreign investment.
Article 24. These Measures shall take effect on August 15, 2023.
Closing
The original document was published in Chinese by the Cyberspace Administration of China; we translated it into English, which is what you read above. This translation is provided for quick comprehension only and should be used at your own discretion and risk — always confirm the current requirements with qualified legal counsel.
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