Alibaba executive says China leads global AI governance

At the inaugural Hong Kong Global AI Governance Conference at the University of Hong Kong, Alibaba policy lead Fu Hongyu said China is at the front lines of global AI guardrails. He described a ‘common ignorance’ dilemma, unsure of AI’s direction.

The University of Hong Kong hosted the inaugural Hong Kong Global AI Governance Conference on Saturday. In a panel discussion, Alibaba Group Holding policy lead Fu Hongyu, director of AI governance at Alibaba’s research institute AliResearch, said China is now at the front lines of global efforts to introduce guardrails for the fast-changing technology.

“We are in a dilemma that can be called common ignorance,” Fu said. “We do not know what is going on and where the technology is going.”

Fu noted that Chinese models are widely considered three to six months behind US counterparts. Beijing’s position on AI governance has always been to balance development and safety, he said. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

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