“ChinAI #234: The (Privacy) Cost of Being Fabulous?” by Jeffrey Ding

Subtitle: China's viral AI-generated portrait app faces backlash on facial data collection. Greetings from a world where…Does school really start this week?…As always, the searchable archive of all past issues is here. Please please subscribe here to support ChinAI under a Guardian/Wikipedia-style tipping model (everyone gets the same content but those who can pay support access for all AND compensation for awesome ChinAI contributors).Feature Translation: How Fabulous is Fabulous Duck (Miaoya Camera)Context: If you’re interested in China’s data protection landscape, one must-follow public account is Southern Metropolis Daily’s Privacy Guard Team (隐私护卫队), which is connected to the Nandu Personal Information Protection Research Center. Recently, they covered the rise of Miaoya Xiangji (妙鸭相机), also translated as “Fabulous Duck,” an AI portrait generator that recently became one of China’s hottest apps. But: what happens with facial data after users upload 21 photos of their face to create an exclusive digital avatar?***Thanks to [...] --- First published: August 21st, 2023 Source: https://chinai.substack.com/p/chinai-234-the-privacy-cost-of-being --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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Narrations of the ChinAI Newsletter by Jeffrey Ding. China is becoming an indispensable part of the global AI landscape. Alongside the rise of China’s AI capabilities, a surge of Chinese writing and scholarship on AI-related topics is shedding light on a range of fascinating topics, including: China’s grand strategy for advanced technology like AI, the characteristics of key Chinese AI actors (e.g. companies and individual thinkers), and the ethical implications of AI development. While traditional media and China specialists can provide important insights on these questions through on-the-ground reporting and extensive background knowledge, ChinAI takes a different approach: it bets on the proposition that for many of these issues, the people with the most knowledge and insight are Chinese people themselves who are sharing their insights in Chinese. Through translating articles and documents from government departments, think tanks, traditional media, and newer forms of “self-media,” etc., ChinAI provides a unique look into the intersection between a country that is changing the world and a technology that is doing the same.