Chinese Tech Giants In Race To Launch ChatGPT Alternative

All the top Chinese tech giants are in a race to launch a ChatGPT alternative for Chinese internet users. The popularity of chatbots has attracted the attention of top tech giants around the world. Chinese tech firms Baidu, Alibaba, iFlytek and NetEase all have announced their version of AI Chatbots to compete with ChatGPT.

As reported earlier, China has blocked the AI chatbot ChatGPT over fears that its American owners would use the tool to spread propaganda in the country.

Chinese tech giants are working on ChatGPT alternative

Since the Chinese government is adamant on blocking ChatGPT, top Chinese tech companies have announced their versions of the chatbot. Baidu announced earlier this month its ChatGPT rival Ernie Bot. The tech firm called its chatbot the result of years of research and development in natural language processing (NLP) and pre-trained large-language models (LLMs).

Days after Baidu revealed Ernie Bot, e-commerce titan Alibaba’s research institute Damo Academy also announced that it is developing a ChatGPT alternative. However, the company did not confirm whether the technology would be made available in its corporate chat app DingTalk. Earlier, Google also announced its chatbot Bard.

Social media and video gaming giant Tencent has so far only suggested that it has relevant technologies to support AI-generated content. Tencent will keep investing in cutting-edge technologies such as AI, and further its exploration in these areas based on its know-how in LLMs, machine learning and NLP,” a company representative said in February.

TikTok parent firm is working on language and imaging AI

ByteDance, the parent firm of short video platform TikTok, has been working on language and imaging AI, Chinese media reported. The company has not officially confirmed or denied reports that it is working on launching its own ChatGPT alternative.

Chinese telecommunications equipment giant Huawei has been cautious about touting its AI research. The firm has been under US trade sanctions since 2019. The chief AI scientist of Huawei’s cloud computing services business said at the time that its Pangu model could be applied to a wide range of business scenarios.