OpenAI’s ChatGPT was removed from the Chinese social media platform WeChat. Without a VPN or a registered phone in another country, ChatGPT’s web-based portal was not accessible from Hong Kong or mainland China. An applet linking ChatGPT and WeChat was available for several weeks before the chatbot was launched.
There were several tutorials on how to connect with ChatGPT on WeChat. However, there were warnings about the potential dangers of doing so if Tencent or China decides to clamp down on ChatGPT access to the country.
According to Chinese reports, Some WeChat accounts which provided details on ChatGPT access or screenshots of the AI program were entirely closed. The ChatGPT link displays this message: It states that the service was suspended “because the content belongs to the platform’s unopened scope,” according to a translation.
ChatGPT is likely to be included in a wider umbrella of tools and information banned by Tencent or the Chinese government rather than being the specific focus of new censorship. Even though it only includes data from the past year, the chatbot is extremely useful in information retrieval.
This includes the fact that the Chinese government bans people from discussing on Chinese platforms, such as the suppression of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests for democracy. The country doesn’t ban synthetic media. Baidu, a Chinese tech giant, has shown an AI painting a portrait of a cat. Tencent also partnered with Voicemod to integrate custom synth voices into its chat platform.
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