Asia In Brief China’s Cyberspace Administration on Saturday posted draft rules governing the behaviour of AI companions that prohibit using them to serve as friends for the elderly.

The draft “Interim Measures for the Administration of Humanized Interactive Services Based on Artificial Intelligence” opens with a suggestion that China needs regulations to ensure the healthy development of AIs that “engage in emotional interaction with humans.”

As is always the case with China’s tech regulations, the draft calls for providers of companion AIs to ensure they are secure, don’t expose users to fraud, encrypt data, and reflect core socialist values. It also includes a requirement for parental controls, and for protection of data that describes minors.

One Article in the draft addresses how AI companions interact with the elderly:

The draft also calls for AI companions to remind users they are not interacting with a human every two hours, and for providers of such systems to provide advance notice of outages.

Also among the draft requirements are calls for “mental health protection, emotional boundary guidance, and dependency risk warning, and should not use replacing social interaction, controlling users' psychology, or inducing addiction as design goals.”

The draft also prohibits using data gathered during interaction with AI companies to train models.

The Cyberspace Administration wants feedback on the draft by January 25th.

Australia signs Google Cloud defence deal

Australia’s Department of Defence has tapped Google for an “enhanced, secure and air-gapped hyperscale cloud capability.”

“Defence will have access to advanced global cloud solutions to deliver key sovereign capabilities,” states the department’s announcement of the deal. “The technology will support faster rollout of critical systems, ongoing upgrades and improved cooperation with international partners, while ensuring Australia retains control of critical Defence assets.”

Australia’s government already has a deal with AWS to operate three datacenters dedicated to government workloads, including information rated as the nation’s “most classified data.”

The Department said the sensitivities of the Google deal mean it will “refrain from providing further commentary … with all specific details remaining strictly confidential.”

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JAXA blames rocket crash on engine misfire

Japan’s Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has published its initial analysis of the failed launch of its H3 rocket last week.

The agency found that when the rocket’s fairing separated, pressure in a fuel tank fell. When the engine that used the fuel tank ignited, it produced around 80 percent of expected pressure.

The rocket’s second stage and payload therefore could not reach the intended orbit. The report suggests both fell into Earth’s atmosphere and burned up safely.

Huawei phones now 57 percent Chinese

57 percent of components present in Huawei smartphones are now made in China, according to a product teardown reported by Japanese outlet Nikkei.

Working with Japanese teardown service Fomalhaut Techno Solutions, Nikkei analyzed the content of 2024’s Mate 70 Pro and this year’s Pura 80 Pro, and found 57 percent of components in both were made in China, and that those parts accounted for 60 percent of the phone’s value.

Nikkei reports that just 19 percent of components in Huawei’s 2020 models came from China, rising to 32 percent in 2023.

PNG to prosecute Starlink users

Papua New Guinea’s (PNG’s) National Information & Communications Technology Authority has warned signatories to a petition calling for Starlink to be licensed for operations in the country that they risk prosecution.

PNG is a rugged country with poor telecommunications infrastructure – a fine fit for Starlink’s satellite broadband service. Local netizens have campaigned for PNG to license Starlink, suggesting they email NICTA to express support for Starlink.

On December 16th NICTA demanded Starlink suspend services to the country.

On Christmas Eve, NICTA published a list of petitioners and warned “Individuals who have signed or participated in the petition may be regarded as potential offenders, and NICTA will not hesitate to pursue appropriate regulatory and legal action where non-compliance is established.”

Starlink has since ended service in PNG.