Alibaba Cloud, part of Chinese tech giant Alibaba Group, this week unveiled its own version of a ChatGPT-like AI tool called Tongyi Qianwen.

In the wake of OpenAI’s successful launch of ChatGPT last November, several big tech companies, including Microsoft, Google, and Baidu, are embracing AI.

Microsoft incorporated tools from OpenAI, and Google launched its own chatbot, Bard. It is currently in testing in the UK and US.

Also read: ByteDance posts record profits, surpassing Tencent and Alibaba

Similarly, another Chinese tech company, Baidu’s Ernie Bot, has been launched for testing by trusted users.

At a summit in Beijing hosted by Alibaba Cloud, CEO Daniel Zhang announced that the large-scale language model Tongyi Qianwen will be integrated into all products Alibaba offers.

technological turning point

The new tool will be utilized in the workplace communication platform DingTalk and the Tmall Genie IoT platform.

“We are at a technological fork, driven by generative AI and cloud computing, where companies across all sectors are embracing intelligence transformation to stay ahead of their game.” Said Zhang.

The bot allows users to perform tasks such as drafting emails and summarizing meeting minutes, recommending healthy food recipes, providing travel tips, and suggesting background music for workout sessions.

The move puts Alibaba in competition with other Chinese tech companies vying to develop their own version of ChatGPT, which has attracted the attention of Chinese regulators.

$ baba The AI ​​arms race continues…

Alibaba has announced plans to launch its own chatbot across its products to compete with ChatGPT. pic.twitter.com/IRojQ5YSob

— TrendSpider (@TrendSpider) April 11, 2023

In draft guidelines released the same day, China’s Cyberspace Administration mandated a security review for all generative AI-related services aiming to operate in China.

“Alibaba Cloud, as the world’s leading cloud computing service provider, is committed to making computing and AI services more accessible and inclusive for enterprises and developers to discover more insights and grow. It will enable us to explore new business models for and create more cutting-edge products and services for society,” said Zhang.

Will this be chaos?

1 Reddit user criticized In response to the announcement, Alibaba said, “Copy from word, paste into notepad and do your best. A classic move from Alibaba CCP. I’m sure. Admittedly, I don’t rate OpenAI high, but I also don’t rate it low.”

Internet is not as free in China as in other countries, and there are restrictions on virtually all platforms.China’s state media warned in February of the potential dangers of investing in local AI-based companies. .

Meanwhile, domestic AI companies are urging investors to act rationally as their stock prices soar and gain regulatory attention.

“I wonder how much censorship this AI needs to have in order to remain compliant with Chinese law…this must be a big mess,” said another Redditor. said.

Similarly, another individual It pointed out It will be interesting to observe whether AI systems can function within the strict censorship model mandated by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

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