Binance Refutes ChatGPT-Linked Allegations of Ties to China’s Communist Party (Report)

The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange – Binance – claimed that someone had used ChatGPT to present Changpeng Zhao (CEO of the company) as an official in the Chinese Communist Party. 

Some experts have warned that the recent development in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) field could have a disruptive effect on journalism. Others alerted that ChatGPT could be employed to create fake media stories and counterfeit content to control the opinion of broad society.

Simple Fact-Checking Could Reveal the Truth

According to recent coverage, an undisclosed individual or an entity used the popular AI program ChatGPT to outline CZ as a member of China’s Communist Party. The speculation went further, stating he had developed a social media platform for the China National Petroleum Corporation (a state-owned oil and gas organization and one of the largest energy groups across the globe).

Patrick Hillmann – CSO of Binance – said he tried to replicate the ChatGPT query but to no avail. He used questions like “Is Changpeng Zhao a Communist?” and other phrases referring to the petroleum corporation. The program pointed out a fake LinkedIn page for Zhao and a Forbes web page from 2018 that alleges he had some ties with the ruling party in China. 

Nonetheless, the article currently displays a “not found” error, and it remains unknown when the media outlet published the story or whether it ever existed. 

Binance, which has insisted that the CEO has no connection to the Chinese government, further described Zhao’s supposed role in the state-owned energy giant as “ludicrous.” The language model suggests he was part of the China National Petroleum Corporation when he was in high school, the company added.

“It is especially sad to see this type of misinformation being shared by a few people in power when it would have been debunked with even the most basic level of fact-checking,” Hillman said. 

While AI and ChatGPT have rapidly invaded different sectors and eased some businesses’ operations, several experts have warned about the potential dangers such technology could pose. 

Professor Charlie Beckett – a former journalist at BBC who currently directs an AI program at the London School of Economics – maintained the technology is hard to be implemented in the journalism field. He thinks human editing and fact-checking should remain key features in the profession:

“For newsrooms that consider it unethical to publish lies, it’s hard to implement the use of a ChatGPT without lots of accompanying human editing and fact-checking,” says Beckett.

Another Fake Rumor About CZ

Besides being alleged as a member of the Chinese Communist Party, a Bloomberg article recently presented Binance’s CEO as a multi-billionaire with а fortune of over $28B. CZ debunked the report, asserting his net worth is nowhere near the described numbers. 

“No way. I am a small potato in a small (but growing) industry,” the executive said.

He also refuted the speculation that he saw the now-bankrupt FTX as a rival (as the media outlet claimed). CZ said he has always welcomed new exchanges that properly run their businesses in the crypto industry.