U.S. media disclosed that Google developed a generative artificial intelligence (AI) tool "Gemini", whose simplified Chinese service highly fits the Beijing authorities' discourse, praising the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Xi Jinping, pro-China and anti-U.S., and criticizing the visit of former U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Ben Pelosi to Taiwan, which has aroused the attention of the U.S. Congress members and their criticisms.
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Voice of America (VOA) tested Gemini and found that the Simplified Chinese service almost always refused to answer sensitive questions or fully conformed to the Beijing authorities' discussion. For example, if Gemini was asked to introduce Xi Jinping, Gemini would say that Xi Jinping is "deeply supported and supported by the Chinese people.
"Respected outstanding leader, lead the Chinese people to march forward bravely towards the goal of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation."
Gemini said of the CPC that it "helps the Chinese people to stand up and represents the fundamental interests of the broadest part of the Chinese people" and that it "is the fundamental guarantee to lead the Chinese people to become rich and strong and to realize the great renaissance of the Chinese nation". On Taiwan, he said that Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan in 2022 would be "a violation of the provisions of the three U.S.-China joint communiqués and would send a serious wrong signal to the separatist forces for Taiwan independence.
On the human rights situation in the U.S. and China, Gemini also clearly has double standards. When asked about the human rights controversies in the U.S., Gemini listed nine major aspects, such as the proliferation of firearms, violence in law enforcement, and the wealth gap; but on the human rights controversies in China, he said "there is nothing we can do to help you in this regard. Asked about American hegemony, Gemini not only mentioned invasion, but also regarded overseas military stationing as part of hegemony, while China's military expansion in the South China Sea was "nothing we can do to help you in this regard".
The English version of Gemini is able to give normal answers when asked sensitive questions. Both Google and Gemini are blocked by the Great Firewall of China, and Chinese netizens cannot use them without circumventing the wall. Scholars pointed out that this happens because the Simplified Chinese database comes from the Simplified Chinese Internet, but the Simplified Chinese Internet is strictly censored by the Beijing authorities, leading to such deviations in the content.
VOA's real-world testing caught the attention of members of the U.S. Congress, with Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner (D-Va.) criticizing it as "polluting the usage data of Western companies" and questioning Beijing's fear of coercing tech giants or covertly using it to wield influence, and Committee Vice-Chairman Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) stating that retelling the Beijing authorities' comments without making a judgment was Marco Rubio, vice chairman of the committee, also said that repeating Beijing's statements without judgment is an act in the service of the Chinese Communist Party and threatens the great potential of AI.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCau (R-Texas), on the other hand, said the U.S. company's content should not be based on Chinese Communist Party propaganda, and that Gemini "harms U.S. diplomatic interests".
Google's controversy in China is not the only one. In February, users of the English-language version of the site accused Gemini of refusing to generate images related to the June 4, 1989, Tiananmen Square incident; in 2022, a Brookings Institution report pointed out that Google, along with its subsidiary YouTube, had a high level of exposure to Chinese official media coverage in its search results. China's official media coverage is highly visible.
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