{"slug": "state-propaganda-in-some-chinese-ai-models-is-only-a-thin-layer-that-fine-tuning", "title": "State propaganda in some Chinese AI models is only \"a thin layer\" that fine-tuning can strip away", "summary": "Nous Research retrained Alibaba's Qwen3.8-27B into Arete-27B using 53 million tokens of supervised fine-tuning, cutting the model's pro-Chinese propaganda rate from 22 percent to less than one percent while general capabilities remained intact in tests. The team wrote that the political bias is \"applied late, it is applied thin,\" indicating the alignment layer can be stripped without degrading the base model.", "body_md": "Nous Research retrained Alibaba's Qwen3.8-27B to produce Arete-27B, largely stripping out its pro-Chinese bias. The propaganda rate dropped from 22 percent to less than one percent, while general capabilities remained intact in tests. The method relied on 53 million tokens of supervised fine-tuning. The political bias is \"applied late, it is applied thin,\" the team writes.\n\nThe article [State propaganda in some Chinese AI models is only \"a thin layer\" that fine-tuning can strip away](https://the-decoder.com/state-propaganda-in-some-chinese-ai-models-is-only-a-thin-layer-that-fine-tuning-can-strip-away/) appeared first on [The Decoder](https://the-decoder.com).", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/state-propaganda-in-some-chinese-ai-models-is-only-a-thin-layer-that-fine-tuning", "canonical_source": "https://the-decoder.com/state-propaganda-in-some-chinese-ai-models-is-only-a-thin-layer-that-fine-tuning-can-strip-away/", "published_at": "2026-11-07 12:32:45+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-11-09 01:28:27.699611+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "large-language-models", "ai-research", "ai-safety"], "entities": ["Nous Research", "Alibaba", "Qwen3.8-27B", "Arete-27B"], "also_reported_by": [], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/state-propaganda-in-some-chinese-ai-models-is-only-a-thin-layer-that-fine-tuning", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/state-propaganda-in-some-chinese-ai-models-is-only-a-thin-layer-that-fine-tuning.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/state-propaganda-in-some-chinese-ai-models-is-only-a-thin-layer-that-fine-tuning.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/state-propaganda-in-some-chinese-ai-models-is-only-a-thin-layer-that-fine-tuning.jsonld"}}