algorithm filing
In plain wordsChina's requirement that companies register certain algorithms — such as recommendation feeds and chatbots — with the internet regulator, describing what they do and how their risks are controlled.
In Chinese law, the mandatory registration of algorithms with the Cyberspace Administration of ChinaCyberspace Administration of China, prop. n.: China's top internet authority, in charge of online censorship as well as regulation, which also writes and enforces most of the country's AI rules, such as the registration of chatbots and recommendation algorithms. (CAC) through its online Internet Information Service Algorithm Filing System. It was introduced by the Provisions on the Management of Algorithmic Recommendations in Internet Information Services, in force since March 1, 2022, under which providers whose recommendation algorithmsrecommender system, n.: Software that guesses which songs, products, posts or jobs you are most likely to want and shows those first, as when a video app lines up the next clip or a shop suggests an add-on. can sway public opinion or mobilize people must register within ten working days of launch, describing the provider and the algorithm (its type and where it is used), assessing its risks themselves and supplying a description for public display. The duty was extended to deep synthesisdeep synthesis, n.: The Chinese legal term for AI that creates or alters text, images, voices, video or virtual scenes — the technology behind deepfakes — and for the rules that govern it. services in 2023 and to generative AIgenerative AI, n.: AI that produces something new on request, such as an essay, a picture, a song or a piece of code, having absorbed from enormous numbers of existing examples what such things typically look like. under the Interim Measures for the Management of Generative AI ServicesInterim Measures for the Management of Generative AI Services, prop. n.: China's 2023 rules for chatbots and other AI that generate text, images, audio or video for the public, requiring lawful training data, content controls, labeling and, for many services, government approval before launch., where a security assessment and filing of the underlying model, often called large-model filing, precede public launch; applications built on an already filed model register with provincial CAC offices. The CAC publishes lists of filed algorithms with brief descriptions, giving outsiders a partial map of deployed systems while technical details stay confidential.
The app calls a model that has completed algorithm filing, so it only needed a provincial registration.
Origin
Created by the algorithm-recommendation provisions issued by the CAC and three other agencies on December 31, 2021; the CAC published its first list of 30 filed algorithms, from companies including Alibaba, ByteDance and Tencent, in August 2022.
Usage note
Often called China's algorithm registry in English. It serves state oversight and information control rather than public transparency: filings are disclosed only in summary.
Related
- Interim Measures for the Management of Generative AI ServicesInterim Measures for the Management of Generative AI Services, prop. n.: China's 2023 rules for chatbots and other AI that generate text, images, audio or video for the public, requiring lawful training data, content controls, labeling and, for many services, government approval before launch.
- deep synthesisdeep synthesis, n.: The Chinese legal term for AI that creates or alters text, images, voices, video or virtual scenes — the technology behind deepfakes — and for the rules that govern it.
- Cyberspace Administration of ChinaCyberspace Administration of China, prop. n.: China's top internet authority, in charge of online censorship as well as regulation, which also writes and enforces most of the country's AI rules, such as the registration of chatbots and recommendation algorithms.
- recommender systemrecommender system, n.: Software that guesses which songs, products, posts or jobs you are most likely to want and shows those first, as when a video app lines up the next clip or a shop suggests an add-on.
- algorithmic accountabilityalgorithmic accountability, n.: The idea that the people and organizations behind automated decision systems must be able to explain and justify those systems' effects, answer for the harm they cause, and fix it.
Defined in law or standards
Provisions on the Management of Algorithmic Recommendations in Internet Information Services (2021), Art. 24
Mentioned in
Cyberspace Administration of ChinaCyberspace Administration of China, prop. n.: China's top internet authority, in charge of online censorship as well as regulation, which also writes and enforces most of the country's AI rules, such as the registration of chatbots and recommendation algorithms., Interim Measures for the Management of Generative AI ServicesInterim Measures for the Management of Generative AI Services, prop. n.: China's 2023 rules for chatbots and other AI that generate text, images, audio or video for the public, requiring lawful training data, content controls, labeling and, for many services, government approval before launch., deep synthesisdeep synthesis, n.: The Chinese legal term for AI that creates or alters text, images, voices, video or virtual scenes — the technology behind deepfakes — and for the rules that govern it.