The Tech for Good meeting was held in Tencent's Beijing headquarters on Saturday. Photo: Courtesy of Tencent

China's technology giant Tencent released its 2020 whitepaper on developing future technology for good on Sunday, noting that technology should be developed to serve the good of the people and society, and it can also provide more opportunities to solve some of the technological challenges that society is facing. 

The whitepaper includes interviews with academics and entrepreneurs, and case studies of technology products, as well as development directions to be explored.  

With the rapid development of technologies such as AI, big data, the Internet of Things and autonomous driving, society and people's lives are made more and more efficient and convenient, and they have also brought many new problems and challenges, said Zhang Zhidong, one of the founders of Tencent. 

For instance, the development of technologies such as AI, autonomous driving, robots and face recognition are getting more and more advanced, but using technologies such as drones can potentially threaten social security, and AI also has the risk of people maliciously faking facial videos with Deepfake, according to the whitepaper. 

To tackle the challenges of the rising technology, regulation and supervision of ethical issues are critical. Financial writer Wu Xiaobo proposed that at first, companies should establish a common consensus on information sharing. High stake penalties should also be established to deter unethical behaviors by raising the cost of wrongdoings. For every development of technologies, related ethical code and morals should also be highlighted. 

For Tencent, it has attempted to provide solutions for some of the risks technology is posing, especially for younger generations. Si Xiao, director of the Tencent Institute, said that Tencent has been case studying 11 Tencent products, and found a way to move towards a good cause. 

Through developing a time control system for its gaming applications, it helped up to 79 percent of adults in online time management. It has also completed a system on its WeChat account for reporting plagiarism in original stories as part of the efforts to protect original content and creativity. 

"Technology is borderless," said Max Tegmark, professor of Massachusetts Institute of Technology.. Tegmark noted that in the global development of technology, no country can be singled out, and a clear red line must be drawn for humanity and technology to coexist in harmony.