Demystifying the Chinese Social Credit System: A Case Study on AI-Powered Control Systems in China

Abstract

In recent times, the social credit systems (SCS) and similar AI-driven mass surveillance systems have been deployed by the Chinese government in various regions. However, the discussions around the SCS are ambiguous: some people call them very controversial and a breach of human rights, while other people say that the SCS are very similar in structure to the company rankings or background checks on individuals in the United States. In reality, though, there is no monolith and there are different forms of SCS deployed in different regions of China. In this paper, I review the different models of the Chinese SCS. Then, I compare how the different systems are upholding or breaching China’s own AI Ethics guidelines.