China’s market regulator is taking action against companies that falsely claim to offer artificial intelligence services, imposing fines on businesses that deceived consumers by impersonating popular AI platforms.
The State Administration for Market Regulation announced penalties against multiple firms for violating the country’s Anti-Unfair Competition Law. Among the cases highlighted, authorities fined one company 50,000 yuan for operating a fraudulent service that posed as the official Chinese version of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, misleading customers into paying for AI dialogue capabilities.
“The company was fully aware of the industry status and influence of OpenAI’s ChatGPT,” SAMR stated in its Friday announcement. “They deliberately created a false impression that they are providing the official service to mislead users into making purchases.”
In a separate enforcement action, Hangzhou Boheng Culture Media received a 30,000 yuan penalty for establishing an unauthorized website that claimed to offer “DeepSeek local deployment.” The counterfeit platform mimicked the legitimate DeepSeek service with remarkable precision, copying fonts, icons, and page layouts that appeared nearly identical to the authentic platform’s design. Users were tricked into purchasing access to what they believed was a genuine AI product.
These two cases represent just a portion of five examples the regulator publicized as part of its intensified campaign to combat unfair business practices within China’s rapidly expanding artificial intelligence sector. The enforcement actions highlight Beijing’s push to maintain order in the AI marketplace and protect consumers as demand for AI services continues to expand.
