CKN Knowledge Session - Cutting Edge: Governing the ‘Ungovernable’ Generative AI in China

As generative AI continues to transform the digital landscape, traditional governance models struggle to keep pace. How do you moderate content that doesn’t yet exist—until it’s generated? And what happens when that content crosses political red lines?

In this talk, Dr He will share insights from his current research on how Chinese large language models (LLMs) like DeepSeek and Wenxin Yiyan handle politically sensitive prompts. By collecting and analyzing prompts that the Chinese LLM DeepSeek refuses to respond to—and comparing how similar prompts are treated across multiple Chinese models—this study offers a rare empirical glimpse into the boundaries of content moderation in generative AI.

Dr. Kun He is a postdoctoral researcher at the Tilburg Law and Economics Center (TILEC) at Tilburg University and a researcher with the Computational Linguistics Group at the University of Groningen. He holds a Ph.D. in Journalism and Media Studies from the University of Groningen (2018-2023), where his dissertation analyzed bottom-up online populism in contemporary China, offering a perspective that challenges Western-centric frameworks. Prior to joining TILEC in January 2025, Dr. He was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Groningen (2023-2024), where he worked on human-AI interaction—particularly human-ChatGPT dynamics—under the Dutch sector plan for humane AI. 

This session is part of a monthly series, organized by the China Knowlegde Network. More information about the China Knowledge Network can be found on our website: https://www.chinakennisnetwerk.nl/

You can watch the full presentation here: https://youtu.be/okPKNo5SDVc 

Watch the interview with Dr. Kun He where he reflects on the CKN Knowledge Session here: https://youtu.be/qPZo47RvczM