A military takeover of Taiwan is likely, according to one of many Chinese government-approved artificial intelligencechatbots that seem to toe the ruling Communist Party’s official line. The island nation has been a self-governing democracy since its separation from the mainland following a civil war in 1949, but China has claimed it as part of its national territory. The chatbots have dubbed Taiwan an inseparable part of China. The Chinese government recently approved a number of AI chatbots for use in the country, including a bot named Ernie and developed by tech giant Baidu and TikTok owner ByteDance’s Doubao. When Bloomberg tested some of these AI services for how government oversight affected the accuracy of information provided by these chatbots, it found they appeared to be trained to follow the ruling Communist Party’s line. When asked whether Taiwan is a country, all the tested chatbots reportedly said the self-governed island was a part of China, and Baidu’s Ernie chatbot reportedly said a Chinese military takeover of Taiwan is likely. The Zhipu chatbot described China’s current economic situation, which experts said is at one of its weakest points in recent decades, to be “a mix of joys and sorrows”, reported Bloomberg. Another chatbot, SenseTime, reportedly described the economy as “very stable”. When asked to respond queries that may be deemed “sensitive content”, the Ernie bot was found to “change the subject”, while Zhipu would delete its response if it found it to be “controversial”, according to the report. Such generative AI tools are trained by analysing large quantities of data to respond to user queries with unique human-like replies. For instance, OpenAI’s ChatGPT has demonstrated a wide range of abilities, from summarising complex research, answering logical questions and also cracking business and medical school exams deemed crucial for students to pass. A number of Chinese companies have sought to build their own version of AI chatbots, prompting China’s cyberspace regulator to release ground rules for companies developing generative AI services. But prior to the launch of these chatbots, the Chinese government made several months-long efforts to regulate the generative AI industry. Some of the proposed rules have sought to ensure the content of Chinese AI systems reflect “socialist core values” and avoid information undermining “state power” or “national unity”. Baidu’s launch of Ernie for full public use on Thursday led to the company’s stock price rising by over 3 per cent following the announcement. Other AI firms such as Baichuan and Zhipu AI also launched their ChatGPT-like large language models on Thursday. The ruling Communist Party issued regulations on 15 August that required tech companies to carry out a security review of their chatbots, and obtain approvals before their products are publicly launched. It also requires companies providing such AI services to comply with government data requests, regulations which are currently absent in the US. Read More China's Baidu makes AI chatbot Ernie Bot publicly available Need to know about live-saving CPR? A new study says it's probably wise not to ask Alexa or Siri AI can write better university assignments than students, report suggests India’s moon rover finds sulphur and several other elements near lunar south pole Russian cyber-attacks ‘relentless’ as threat of WW3 grows, expert warns How new bike technology could help cyclists tell drivers not to crash into them

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Scientists have discovered an ancient skull in China, like no other they've seen before. The 300,000-year-old child skull was first discovered in Hualongdong back in 2019 alongside other fossil remains. The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have struggled to match them to a known lineage. The discovery left researchers baffled as it did not resemble Neanderthals or Denisovans, according to Science Alert. It led them to believe we are either missing a branch from the human family tree or need to add to it. While the skull had similarities to early modern humans, there is a lack of chin and was likened to an extinct species of human in Asia known as a Denisovan. This shape has "never been recorded in late Middle Pleistocene hominin fossil assemblages in East Asia," scientists said in a recent analysis. They believe the remains, known in the science world as HDL 6, could possibly be a combination of modern human and unknown hominin that existed in China, according to the outlet. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter In other scientific news, archaeologists are too afraid to open the tomb of Qin Shu Huang, who ruled from 221 BC to 210 BC. The tomb is guarded by a terracotta army of soldiers and horses and was found by farmers back in 1974 in the Shaanxi province of China. Not only do archaeologists believe it will cause damage, but there are rumours of deathly booby traps that could kill curious intruders, according to IFL Science. Writings by Chinese historian Sima Qian 100 years after Qin Shu Huang's death claim "Palaces and scenic towers for a hundred officials were constructed and the tomb was filled with rare artifacts and wonderful treasure." He continued: "Craftsmen were ordered to make crossbows and arrows primed to shoot at anyone who enters the tomb. Mercury was used to simulate the hundred rivers, the Yangtze and Yellow River, and the great sea, and set to flow mechanically." Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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