The Macau SAR will be closely monitoring the development of AI technology and enhancing its legal system to address emerging issues, said Secretary for Economy and Finance Lei Wai Nong on Tuesday.
The statement was made during a plenary session at the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday, where legislator Chui Sai Peng raised questions about the SAR government’s plans to regulate the development of artificial intelligence.
Recently, regulatory challenges have arisen with the growing popularity of ChatGPT, an AI-powered language model developed by OpenAI and launched in November 2022.
In response, Lei acknowledged that legal issues related to AI are still widely debated globally and that a consensus has yet to be reached.
Furthermore, Lei emphasised that the SAR government will be closely monitoring the development of AI technology, its impact on local industries, and international legislative trends while working to improve the copyright legal system.
The current copyright law in Macau states that providers of AI products must obtain permission from copyright owners when using their works to train AI.
AI-generated works are generally not considered copyright infringements under Macau’s copyright law because they are typically not similar to a specific copyrighted work.
In April, the Rui Cunha Foundation and MBtv Debates hosted a conference titled ‘Artificial Intelligence: Brave New World’ featuring experts in the fields of AI technology and law.
During the conference, guest speakers emphasised that AI is a constantly evolving field, and a flexible and proper regulatory groundwork should be put forward to plug possible legal gaps in the future.
