What does bubble tea mean to you?

My observation is that in Taiwan, there is a broad consensus within civil society and among the public about “Taiwanese identity” and the necessity of resisting attacks from the PRC. On the other hand, politicians and the media seem to be increasingly polarized. Is this polarization confined to the political ...

As Taiwan’s first transgender minister, you represent the inclusiveness of your society. However, we are now seeing a regression on transgender rights in the United States. Do you worry that this “backlash” phenomenon could affect Taiwan?

(Observation from a journalist from Côte d’Ivoire) Before coming to Taiwan, I was surprised at how calm the people seemed in the face of the threat from the PRC. After arriving, I found this to be true. Having listened to your explanation, I’ve found the answer: Taiwan’s social resilience is ...

So, do you think content moderation is still useful? For example, when someone makes an inflammatory statement, should the platform intervene?

A French parliamentarian was very impressed with Taiwan’s model for combating disinformation, noting that beyond school education, the vitality of Taiwan’s civil society is key, as people do not rely solely on the state. Do you agree with this view? Also, can the information warfare from the PRC and Russia ...

How does a “hacker” become a real-life government minister?

You mentioned the experience of Switzerland earlier. Could you elaborate on this “participatory democracy” in the Swiss context?

If Taiwanese society can become immune to this information warfare, what is the “remedy”? What can the people of Taiwan rely on to counter it?

In the context of information warfare and disinformation, what do you consider the greatest threat to Taiwan’s democratic society?

We heard the term “non-Red supply chain” for the first time today. How does this relate to hardware equipment from companies like Huawei? Also, some tech companies mentioned they chose to partner with France instead of Starlink because of Starlink’s close ties to the PRC. Could you elaborate on the ...

What is the status of TikTok usage in Taiwan? What regulations has the government put in place?

In Taiwan, do people feel a threat from Russia?

Do you believe there is a high probability of a military invasion by the PRC?

How severe are the daily cyber threats that Taiwan faces? Does the pressure from the PRC constitute a tangible danger?

Regarding the smaller, open-source models you mentioned, does this mean Taiwan will train its own proprietary models?

Taiwan is renowned for its hardware prowess, but its software sector has historically been considered less prominent. Is it possible for this to change in the future? Additionally, what challenges does Taiwan face regarding its energy and rare earth mineral supplies?

Taiwan is very advanced, and mainland China is also progressing quickly in electronics. What are the differences between Taiwan’s and mainland China’s digital policies? China has many “surveillance” practices and claims to be the world’s safest country. Where will this “full application of digital technology to monitor citizens” lead?

What technologies are you following or particularly interested in?

In your theory, you talk about the importance of inclusivity in social development. How can we help those who cannot keep up with artificial intelligence and digital progress join in the common development of society?

Will AI not replace humans and begin controlling society? Won’t AI lead to humans being marginalized or classified and selected? In your book, you mentioned that as AI becomes more widespread, humans should focus on creating more public value. What role should humans play again?

Japan’s population is aging. Can continued technological advances, including AI, overcome health concerns? Also, how should people collaborate with AI and robots? For example, robots are widely used in factories moving toward automation. What kind of work should people value, and what role should they play?

The third question: Powerful technology companies amass more wealth than others and earlier. Investors who find these companies can donate a lot of money, and wealth continues to flow into the future. Will technological progress bring happiness to the majority of people? What do people need to be happy?

The second question: It’s said that by 2045 and 2050, AI will reach a technological turning point beyond human capabilities, which will have comprehensive impacts on humanity. Is it possible that the ethical and moral issues of AI we’re concerned about today won’t necessarily happen as predicted?

When you imagine the future, how far ahead do you typically think?

Sure, no worries. I’ll send you the link once the article goes live this week.

All right, that’s about all I wanted to ask today. Thank you so much for speaking with me, especially so late in the evening.

I see. One last question: over the past week, people have been talking a lot about DeepSeek. It’s only been a short time, but do you have any thoughts on its future?

I see, thank you. How do you, personally, feel about R1’s development, given you’ve used it for some time?

Understood. Has the censorship approach overshadowed its initial “wow factor”? Or would you say that if one simply downloads and retrains it locally, it’s not really affected?

Could the ideological layer also create a security issue by steering user answers in a certain direction?

I see. So the security concerns now raised in various places essentially mirror what you’ve described?

Are you saying the risk is analogous to other Chinese apps, such as Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book)?

Understood. In non-Chinese-speaking regions, the DeepSeek app soared to second place in app download charts last week. I’m curious: for people who download the app, where do you think the appeal lies, given the heavy content moderation?

Yes, precisely. If the DeepSeek app or website clearly imposes ideological filters whenever you ask about public affairs or society, might users just decide not to bother with DeepSeek?

Yes, I see. But for users who aren’t very tech-savvy and only use the app or website version, do you think its censorship approach might affect which AI product they choose? In other words, what are the hidden downsides for more “lay” users?

So using English might also yield different results in the online version?

Yes. But regarding the online version, do you think censorship has gone so far that, as some reports mention, it might even refuse to answer “Who is Xi Jinping?”? It appears many queries aren’t answered at all.

We touched on how different instructions or keywords might produce drastically different results. For instance, “Tiananmen Incident” might yield a starkly different answer from “Tiananmen Massacre.”

I see.

Right. So that underlying ideology is essentially because of the way it was trained—“fed” by data that inherently contains those biases?

Right. So at the time, once you realised that difference, you surmised that perhaps the offline version is less subject to the heavy moderation found on the online or app versions. Also, because you mentioned that it displays its “thinking” process, some users say that when they try to input ...

Understood. Earlier, we also noted that when you responded to people, you explained certain “unlocking” methods for it. Did you figure out how to bypass censorship because you knew that the offline version lacks some of the safeguards present in the online or app versions? How did you go about ...

I see. So, last week when many media outlets were comparing R1 to O1 Pro, how did you feel when you saw those comparisons?

When you first used R1, what were your impressions? Did you feel it had truly… perhaps surpassed OpenAI’s latest model?

Yes, the newest version.

Let’s begin by discussing your very first experience of using DeepSeek. When it launched last week, people were quite amazed by it. Could you tell us what that first encounter was like?

Audrey Tang, thank you very much indeed, Taiwan’s cyber ambassador at large.

Does that leave citizens of a certain country at risk of almost state action via DeepSeek, or are we talking more about individual, perhaps criminal enterprises?

You touched on some of the potential negative impacts of this breakthrough. Can you expand on your major concerns?