ChatGPT used to generate fake news of train crash, man arrested in China

Beijing: A man in China used ChatGPT to allegedly generate fake news about a train crash and spread it online. The police have detained him for using artificial intelligence to "concoct information" and posting it on multiple accounts.

The fake news claimed that nine people were killed in a local train accident on April 25. The Cyber Division of the Kongtong county police bureau spotted the news in over 20 different accounts on Baijiahao, a blog-style platform run by Chinese search engine giant Baidu. By then, it had received over 15,000 clicks.

The police also said that they have traced the origins of the articles to a company owned by Hong. He confessed that he bypassed Baijiahao's duplication check function to publish on multiple accounts. He input elements of trending social stories in China from past years into ChatGPT to produce different versions of the same fake story.

It is China's first arrest for misuse of ChatGPT.

A suspect surnamed Hong had been detained for "using artificial intelligence technology to concoct false and untrue information," said police in Gansu province. The Gansu public security department said Hong was suspected of the crime of "picking quarrels and provoking trouble". For the charge he is accused of, the law normally carries a maximum sentence of five years. However, in especially severe cases, offenders can be jailed for 10 years. They may also get additional penalties.

ChatGPT is not available in China but people can access it using a VPN connection. Since the new technology has gone viral, many have raised concerns about the support it provided to criminal activities like online scams, fake news, deep fake images, rumours, and defamation.