OnePlus has temporarily disabled its AI Writer tool in the Notes app after allegations that it was censoring terms sensitive to the Chinese government.
Is something fishy with the OnePlus AI?
The OnePlus AI Writer, part of the OnePlus AI toolkit introduced with OxygenOS 15, allows you to rewrite or generate text. Give it a short prompt, like "The Taj Mahal is one of the seven wonders of the world," and it will generate a few paragraphs around it. However, the feature has been temporarily disabled by OnePlus after many users reported that it fails to respond when the prompt includes topics sensitive to the Chinese government.
The issue came to light when X user Arjun Koroth posted a screen recording showing that the feature fails to respond every time it's asked to generate text around the prompt, "Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India." For context, there has been a long-standing political tension between India and China, with both countries claiming Arunachal Pradesh – which is currently a state in India – as part of their territory. The feature also fails when the prompt includes other terms sensitive to China, such as the Dalai Lama or Taiwan.
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What the fuck OnePlus?
Any references with Arunachal Pradesh - and the AI Writer just refuses to work at all.
Following multiple such reports, Winkey from the OnePlus software team posted on the OnePlus Community channel that they are actively investigating the issue. He also mentioned that the OnePlus AI uses a hybrid AI architecture that incorporates third-party large language models to handle all AI-related tasks on its smartphones. This means different AI models manage different AI functions within OnePlus devices. For example, Google Gemini could handle most of the personalization features powered by AI, while other models may take care of different AI-related operations on the device.
The current issue suggests that OnePlus's AI Writer feature is likely being powered by an LLM model trained for the Chinese market, though that's just my guess since OnePlus hasn't shared any official information on this front. It's also worth noting that Chinese AI platform DeepSeek has previously faced significant backlash for similar situations, where it failed to respond to queries that put the Chinese government under scrutiny, such as questions about the Tiananmen Square incident or whether Arunachal Pradesh is part of India.
That said, OnePlus has released another statement, noting that the investigation will take some time. Until then, all OnePlus devices, including the OnePlus 15 that support the AI Writer tool, will not be able to use it in the Notes app.
Are you really concerned about AI responses censoring political terms?
Yes - they can have a big impact on society.
50%
No - I don't use these AI tools at all.
50%
The issue is really concerning
OnePlus 13 Display. | Image by PhoneArena
With more and more users starting to use AI tools like the OnePlus AI Writer every day, the companies managing the LLM models that power these tools need to be very careful about the responses these features generate. At one point, it's understandable if the AI Writer fails to respond to queries that question the Chinese government. But imagine how quickly things could have escalated politically if, for example, the feature had responded that Arunachal Pradesh belongs to China instead of India.
Ideally, I would like smartphone companies like OnePlus to give users the manual option to choose the LLM model of their choice for the AI features they offer. That way, if I prefer Google Gemini, I can set it as my default LLM model for all my queries, instead of receiving responses from a model I know to be biased.
Aman Kumar is a tech news writer with a long-standing passion for smartphones. Aman specializes in everything smartphones, from AI features like Pixel’s Camera Coach to understanding ideal hardware combinations. He loves breaking down complex features in a simple, clear way and hopes manufacturers bring back bold designs like the Nokia N-Gage. When he’s not writing, he’s either gaming on PUBG or talking fitness as a dedicated gym enthusiast.
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