Interim Measures for the Management of Generative Artificial Intelligence Services

• Authority: Chinese central government
• Jurisdiction: China
• Collections: Chinese law and policy
• Most recent activity: Enacted
• Most recent activity date: 2023-07-10

Risk subdomain coverage

Good coverage — Comprehensive governance measures or mitigations with clear procedures relating to the risk subdomain are explicitly described.

• Unfair discrimination and misrepresentation
• Exposure to toxic content
• Compromise of privacy
• False or misleading information
• Disinformation, surveillance, and influence at scale
• Lack of capability or robustness
• Lack of transparency or interpretability

Minimal coverage — Brief mention but no specific mitigations, recommendations or governance measures relating to the risk subdomain are described.

• Unequal performance across groups
• AI system security vulnerabilities
• Pollution of information ecosystem
• Cyberattacks, weapon development or use
• Fraud, scams, and targeted manipulation
• Overreliance and unsafe use
• Power centralization and unfair distribution
• Economic and cultural devaluation of human effort
• Competitive dynamics

All other risk subdomains had no coverage in this document.

Risk Coverage Summary

The document has good coverage of approximately 10-12 subdomains, with strong focus on discrimination and toxicity (1.1, 1.2), privacy and security (2.1, 2.2), misinformation (3.1, 3.2), malicious actors (4.1, 4.3), and AI system safety (7.3, 7.4). Coverage is concentrated in content safety, data protection, and operational reliability domains.

Sector coverage

Good coverage — Comprehensive governance measures or mitigations with clear procedures relating to the sector are explicitly described.

• Information

Minimal coverage — Brief mention but no specific mitigations, recommendations or governance measures relating to the sector are described.

• Scientific Research & Development Services
• Educational Services
• Arts, Entertainment & Recreation
• National Security

All other sectors had no coverage in this document.

Sectors Summary

This document primarily governs the Information sector, specifically organizations providing generative AI services through data processing, telecommunications, and broadcasting. It also has limited applicability to Educational Services and Arts/Entertainment sectors where generative AI is used, though other state provisions may take precedence in those areas.

Legislative Status

Hard Law

Legislative Status Summary

This is a binding regulatory instrument issued by multiple Chinese government ministries with mandatory language, explicit enforcement mechanisms including penalties and sanctions, and formal legal authority under Chinese cybersecurity and data protection laws.

Actors

Proposer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Summary: The document is jointly issued by seven Chinese government ministries and agencies, as listed at the end of the document. These are the proposing authorities that drafted and promulgated these interim measures.

Target

• Entity Types: AI_Developer, AI_Deployer
• Summary: The document explicitly defines 'Generative AI service providers' as the primary target entities. Article 2 specifies the measures apply to those using generative AI technologies to provide services to the public in mainland PRC for generation of text, images, audio, video, or other content.

Enforcer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Summary: Article 16 explicitly identifies multiple government departments responsible for enforcement based on their respective duties. Article 20 specifies the state internet information department has authority to address non-compliant services. Article 21 specifies relevant regulatory departments will impose penalties.

Monitor

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Summary: Article 16 establishes that the same departments responsible for enforcement also conduct monitoring and oversight. Article 19 specifies that providers must cooperate with relevant departments carrying out oversight inspections, providing technical data and other support.

AI Lifecycle Stages

Lifecycle stages covered by the documents, as defined in the OECD Framework for the Classification of AI Systems

• Plan and Design
• Collect and Process Data
• Build and Use Model
• Verify and Validate
• Deploy
• Operate and Monitor

AI Lifecycle Summary

The document comprehensively covers multiple AI lifecycle stages with particular emphasis on Build and Use Model, Deploy, and Operate and Monitor stages. It addresses data collection and processing, model development, deployment requirements, and ongoing operational monitoring with detailed governance measures for each stage.

Technical Scope

Terms relating to technical scope that are mentioned or implicitly referenced in the document

• AI Models
• Foundation Models
• AI Systems
• Generative AI

Technical Scope Summary

The document explicitly focuses on generative AI services and technology, defining it as models and technologies that generate content such as text, images, audio, or video. It does not distinguish between frontier AI, general purpose AI, or task-specific AI, nor does it mention foundation models, compute thresholds, or open-weight models. The scope is broad, covering all generative AI services provided to the public in mainland China.