Police in Shaoxing, Zhejiang province, have cracked down on a gang that was profiting by releasing fake videos on the internet assisted by ChatGPT, an AI chatbot developed by United States company OpenAI. The case is the first of its kind in Zhejiang.

According to Shanghai-based online news portal ThePaper.cn, on June 2, police in Shangyu district of Shaoxing found that a netizen had posted a fake video about a fire that never happened in an industrial park in Shangyu. The video's views quickly skyrocketed.

Police verified the video was fake and soon identified a technology company as the main suspect.

On June 5, police arrested three suspects from outside of Zhejiang, and an investigation revealed that since May the company had illegally acquired a batch of video accounts, and used ChatGPT technology to match videos online with fake Chinese captions to create false videos, then posted the videos online to profit through traffic algorithms.

The group had illegally purchased more than 1,500 video accounts and published over 3,000 unverified or fake videos through such means.

Data from global market research company International Data Corp show that China's spending on AI will likely hit $14.7 billion this year, accounting for about one-tenth of the global market. The scale of China's AI market is expected to reach $26.4 billion by 2026, compounding annually by more than 20 percent from 2021 to 2026.

Meanwhile, police said it is important for internet users to abide by relevant laws, and it is crucial for netizens to self-regulate their online behaviors to ensure a safe and orderly online environment.

One must strive to "not believe rumors, not spread rumors and not create rumors" in order to uphold the integrity of the virtual space we share, the police said.