AI + ML

PLUS: Robot becomes Buddhist monk in Korea; TikTok spending $25bn in Thailand; Baidu floating chip biz; and more!

China’s Cyberspace Administration last week published draft regulations  governing the behavior of AI agents and suggested humans should always retain the ability to review decisions taken by software.

The draft expresses Beijing’s enthusiasm for AI agents with a call for efforts to develop datasets that accelerate development, along with security standards that make agents safe to use and ensure they behave ethically.

There’s also a call to develop mandatory standards for how agents will behave “in fields such as healthcare, transportation, media, and public safety.” China also wants to participate in international fora that develop such standards.

The draft calls for developers of AI agents to “clarify the reasonable boundaries and required authority for various decision-making methods, such as decisions limited to the user, decisions requiring user authorization, and autonomous decisions by the intelligent agent.”

Those boundaries should “Ensure that users have the right to know and the final decision-making power regarding the autonomous decisions made by the intelligent agent, and that the intelligent agent's actions do not exceed the scope authorized by the user.”

The draft identifies many tasks Beijing thinks agents might take on, including marking homework, analyzing medical images, evaluating employee performance and recommending promotions, helping disaster relief efforts, and even providing “intelligent management of the entire bidding and tendering process, ensuring standardization and efficiency throughout.”

Samsung turns off its TV and appliance business in China

Korean giant Samsung last week decided to quit China’s TV and appliance markets.

“In response to the rapidly changing market environment, after careful consideration, Samsung Electronics has decided to cease sales of all home appliances, including televisions and monitors, in the Chinese mainland market,” states an “adjustment notice” on the Samsung China website.

Samsung will honor warranties, and continue to provide after-sales service.

The company hasn’t said why it’s quitting these markets in China. The Register expects the reasons have a lot to do with the rise and rise of Chinese consumer electronics companies, which can make a patriotic pitch in addition to pointing out the high quality of their products.

Samsung’s not the first to decide it’s too tough to try trading televisions in China: Sony quit the country, too.

Thailand approves giant TikTok datacenter

The government of Thailand last week approved TikTok’s plan to spend ฿842 billion ($25 billion) on new datacenters in the country.

Thailand’s Board of Investment said the project will see TikTok “install additional servers and expand data storage and processing infrastructure across Bangkok, Samut Prakan and Chachoengsao Province, supporting rising demand for digital services and strengthening Thailand’s role in regional digital infrastructure.”

The Board also signed off on a 200 MW datacenter to be built by Skyline Data Center and Cloud Services Co, and a 134 MW facility from Bridge Data Centres.

Baidu to float its chip biz

Chinese web giant Baidu has filed paperwork to spin out its chip design business Kunlunxin.

Baidu flagged its plan to do this in January, when it said the aim was to “independently showcase Kunlunxin's value, attract investors focused on the AI chip sector, and leverage its standalone listing to enhance its market profile, broaden financing channels, and better align management accountability with performance.”

“This also supports the effort to unlock the value of Baidu's AI-powered businesses.”

Kunlunxin’s chips suit inferencing and training workloads, but their performance can’t match Nvidia’s latest chips – or even four-year-old kit like the H100. That hasn’t stopped Baidu using the chips to power its own AI services, and major Chinese corporations also use the company’s chips.

Japan and EU to improve tech interoperability

The EU-Japan Digital Partnership Council recently convened its annual meeting and last week revealed that talks included “deepened discussions on the joint development and interoperability of data spaces” and promised to keep talking in a new “Data Strategy Working Group” that will “improve the interoperability of data policy frameworks.”

The meeting also discussed a successful pilot on interoperable digital identities which apparently “showed that cross-border use is technically possible, even where governance frameworks and technical architectures differ. Using prototypes of digital identity wallets, the project demonstrated how interoperability can be achieved in practice between different systems.”

As part of discussions, the EU and Japan agreed to begin working in new areas, including video games and audiovisual strategies.

Humanoid robot becomes Buddhist monk

Seoul’s Jogye Temple last week allowed a robot named Gabi to take the vows required of a Buddhist monk.

Temple leaders reportedly decided to initiate the robot because they feel humanoid machines will soon become a part of everyday life.

In February, the President of the Jogye Order, the Most Venerable Jinwoo, said “our lives have become ever more convenient thanks to cutting-edge science and AI. Yet the anxieties, anger, depression, and isolation—mental attachments and sufferings that science cannot resolve— are growing ever deeper.”

“This does not mean that Buddhism withdraws from this vast technological civilization,” he said. “Rather, we aim to fearlessly lead the AI era and redirect its achievements toward the path of attaining peace of mind and enlightenment.”

“In the age of AI and quantum science, peace of mind will be cultivated through Buddhism.”  ®