China Decoded is Newsweek’s in-depth newsletter about China’s growing influence on the world. It goes beyond the headlines to examine how Beijing thinks, how its policies travel beyond China’s borders, and what they mean for the United States and its allies. The newsletter is written by journalists with deep experience covering China.
Didi Kirsten Tatlow, Senior Correspondent for International Affairs and Investigations, has reported extensively on Chinese politics, influence and security. John Feng, China Editor, is based in Taiwan and covers China’s domestic politics, foreign policy and the strategic competition between Beijing and Washington. Below, for Newsweek Members, we are reproducing the latest edition of China Decoded in full: We need to talk about epistemology, China and AI.
It’s the branch of philosophy that examines the origins, nature and limits of human knowledge. It asks the question: How do we know what we know? Writing a chapter for a book earlier this year on human emotions, or psychology and psychotherapy, and technology and political control in China, I asked DeepSeek, the Chinese AI model, how to change China’s political system.
Unsurprisingly, it said wouldn’t give me that information. I asked it the same question about the United States and the advice poured out. Many people want to change the U.S. system, it said.
Political organizing on the ground can work, it said. Paragraph upon paragraph of suggestions. Of course, the content of AI changes and this search was conducted in May so it may behave differently today.
However, by law, Chinese AI must support Communist Party values and the CCP operates the biggest censorship system in the world, so the changes may not be that significant. Give it a go and see what it says. Two things are important here.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
