Post-95s Guy Uses AI to Generate "Short Essay," Makes $85,000 by Speculating on Soda Ash, Gets Fined $485,000

According to Dongxihu Beating Monitor, the Sichuan Securities Regulatory Bureau has imposed a penalty on individual investor Sun Zheyuan. He used AI to mass-produce 17 fake articles about soda ash production and published them on the Baidu Baijiahao platform under the pseudonym "Di Kan." During the dissemination period, he traded soda ash futures and made a profit of ¥85,028.85 after deducting fees. The regulator confiscated all the proceeds and imposed a fine of ¥400,000, totaling a fine of approximately ¥485,000.

These 17 articles revolved around two pieces of fake news. Four articles claimed that a certain soda ash company experienced a boiler malfunction, causing the production line to be shut down for at least six months, while the other 13 articles claimed that a factory was damaged due to an earthquake in Alashan. The two batches of articles had a total of 8,794 reads on the day after publication. Some investors had already sought verification from the listed companies, and others had reported to the regulatory platform.

Sun Zheyuan argued that the articles did not have a substantial impact, and his futures trading profits were unrelated to the fake news. He also claimed that he has been suffering from a long-term mental illness. The Sichuan Securities Regulatory Bureau rejected all of Sun's defenses, determining that his subjective intent was obvious and he failed to prove that he was unable to recognize or control his behavior at the time of the incident. The regulator also made it clear that the futures trading profits during the dissemination of false information can be directly regarded as illegal gains.