Welcome to Email News: A global debate around AI-generated art is heating up

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Berry Wang and Jessie Yeung

A global debate around AI-generated art is heating up – and Chinese creators are taking a stand

Artists across China are boycotting one of the country's biggest social media platforms over complaints about its AI image generation tool.

The controversy began in August when an illustrator who goes by the name Snow Fish accused the privately owned social media site Xiaohongshu of using her work to train its AI tool, Trik AI, without her knowledge or permission.

Trik AI specializes in generating digital art in the style of traditional Chinese paintings; it is still undergoing testing and has not yet been formally launched.

Snow Fish, whom CNN is identifying by her Xiaohongshu username for privacy reasons, said she became aware of the issue when friends sent her posts of artwork from the platform that looked strikingly similar to her own style: sweeping brush-like strokes, bright pops of red and orange, and depictions of natural scenery.

"Can you explain to me, Trik AI, why your AI-generated images are so similar to my original works?" Snow Fish wrote in a post which quickly circulated online among her followers and the artist community.

The controversy erupted just weeks after China unveiled rules for generative AI, becoming one of the first governments to regulate the technology as countries around the world wrestle with AI's potential impact on jobs, national security and intellectual property.

Trik AI and Xiaohongshu, which says it has 260 million monthly active users, do not publicize what materials are used to train the program and have not publicly commented on the allegations.

The companies have not responded to multiple requests from CNN for comment.

But Snow Fish said a person using the official Trik AI account had apologized to her in a private message, acknowledging that her art had been used to train the program and agreed to remove the posts in question. CNN has reviewed the messages.

However, Snow Fish wants a public apology. The controversy has fueled online protests on the Chinese internet against the creation and use of AI-generated images, with several other artists claiming their works had been similarly used without their knowledge.

Hundreds of artists have posted banners on Xiaohongshu saying "No to AI-generated images," while a related hashtag has been viewed more than 35 million times on the social media platform Weibo.

The boycott in China comes as debates about the use of AI in arts and entertainment are playing out globally.

Read the full story here.

Manila pushes back

China is behaving like a schoolyard bully toward smaller countries, the Philippine defense secretary told CNN Friday during an exclusive interview in which he warned his nation, and the wider world, had to stand up to Beijing's territorial expansion in the South China Sea.

"I cannot think of any clearer case of bullying than this," said Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilberto Teodoro Jr.

"It's not the question of stealing your lunch money, but it's really a question of stealing your lunch bag, your chair and even enrollment in school."

Read the exclusive interview here.

Thailand welcomes Chinese tourists with open arms

Thailand's golden beaches, shopping districts and ornate temples are filling with tourists once again and Chinese vacationers are getting an especially VIP welcome under a new visa-free scheme.

Vowing to revive the country's economy, newly appointed Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin announced a visa-free policy for Chinese tourists that would run from September 25 to February 24 next year, signaling that the recovery of Thailand's tourism industry is a top priority.

The policy came just in time for China's "Golden Week" holiday period, which is centered around National Day on October 1.

This year's Golden Week coincides with the Mid-Autumn Festival, marking a 10-day travel rush spanning September 29 to October 8. It's also one of the first holiday periods since the Covid-19 pandemic during which people from China can travel without restrictions.

Chinese visitors arriving from Shanghai were greeted with gifts, handed out by Sretta and tourism ministers, at Bangkok's main airport on Monday as the visa-free policy took effect.

"We are confident that this scheme will boost the economy substantially," Sretta told reporters.

"We would like to encourage more visits from Chinese tourists not only at major cities like Chiang Mai, Bangkok, Pattaya and Phuket."

Read the full story here.

— From CNN's Kathleen Magramo, Kocha Olarn, Berry Wang and Carina Cheng

Embattled Chinese developer Evergrande Group said Thursday that Chinese authorities suspected its chairman of "crimes" and that shares in the company would remain suspended until further notice.

Trading in the shares of Evergrande and two subsidiaries was halted in Hong Kong earlier Thursday, stoking fears about its ability to restructure its mammoth debt and stave off a liquidation of the business.

In a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange issued after the market closed, Evergrande said it had been notified by the "relevant authorities" that its chairman Hui Ka Yan had been subject to "mandatory measures in accordance with the law due to suspicion of … crimes."

It gave no further details. Under the Chinese legal system "mandatory" or "compulsory" measures can include detention and formal arrest.

Evergrande had warned Sunday that its offshore debt restructuring plan may be in trouble because of a regulatory probe into its main subsidiary in mainland China. Meetings with creditors were postponed.

The announcements came just weeks after news emerged that Chinese police had launched their first criminal probe into Evergrande since it defaulted on its debt nearly two years ago. Chinese police in Shenzhen said they had detained some staff at Evergrande's wealth management unit after it failed to repay investors. The unit operates in China's "shadow banking" sector, raising funds on the promise of high returns and funneling them into real estate projects.

The world's most indebted real estate developer had total liabilities worth $328 billion at the end of June.

Read the full story here.

—From CNN's Laura He and Mark Thompson

Around the region

US Army Private Travis King arrived back on United States soil Thursday after being returned to American custody weeks after he crossed into North Korea.
India's anti-terror agency has raided 53 sites across seven states and union territories in a crackdown on what it says are "terrorists" and "gangsters," some of whom it alleges have links to Sikh separatist groups.
The US State Department has condemned the jailing of one of Vietnam's most prominent environmental activists for tax fraud in a ruling human rights activists claimed was a "total sham."
North Korea has amended its constitution to bolster and expand its nuclear force, with leader Kim Jong Un pointing to the growing cooperation between the United States, South Korea and Japan as "the worst actual threat" facing the isolated nation.
A South Korean man has been sentenced to jail for using artificial intelligence to generate exploitative images of children, the first case of its kind in the country.
Taiwan unveiled its first-ever domestically built submarine, as the island democracy works to boost its military deterrence in the face of a growing threat from Beijing.
Shipping containers from China are "piling up" in Russia amid a surge of Chinese goods flowing into the country as trade soars, a new analysis has found.