There is much to fear from artificial intelligence (AI) developed by Chinese companies such as DeepSeek and Xiaomi and offered to businesses and governments in the West almost free of charge, according to a report.
The report in the UK’s The Guardian highlights that Chinese developers are launching AI models by the dozen each month at a fraction of the cost of their US equivalents. In practice, an AI user has a choice between a cheap Chinese open system that can be tweaked for their own purposes and expensive US software that comes with various attachments they probably do not need.
The policy governing DeepSeek’s online chatbot states that it collects prompts and uploaded material, processes and stores personal data in China, and permits disclosure to Chinese authorities, the report by Phillip Inman pointed out.
It cited Michael Wooldridge, a professor of AI at the University of Oxford, as saying that it is not unreasonable to assume that data entered into the chatbot could be shared with the Chinese state.
“The consequences for policymaking are profound. The UK should reject the lure of cheap Chinese AI and seek to better tame US AI while supporting domestic and EU suppliers. Relying on Chinese tech, from cars to AI, is going to hollow out industry and undermine the security of our data,” the report stated.
The report points out that cheap AI takes the export threat from China to “a much higher level” than the communist country’s low-priced products, such as electric vehicles (EVs), which have hurt the domestic car industries of other countries.
“It’s scary because Beijing is entering a new phase in the long march of economic development, taking the world’s second largest economy closer to making China great again,” the report states.
It also underscores that China is building a fleet of warships to challenge the US in the Pacific, much as Japan did in the 1930s. Taiwan, the engine of semiconductor development, is also in its sights.
The report further states that while Russia is using AI to enhance cyberattacks on European government agencies and businesses to create chaos, China merely wants to widen the circle of friends that consume its goods without asking awkward questions. However, this has the potential to enable Beijing to turn states into clients that depend on Chinese technology for the basics of life. (IANS)