China tech companies are closely watching ChatGPT’s A.I. skills

BEIJING – ChatGPT’s business story is now more about the unknown.

Big tech companies in the US and China rushed this month to announce they are working on similar AI tools. These announcements often refer to Microsoft’s supported ChatGPT, while revealing some details about what they’re working on.

The artificial intelligence-powered chatbot ChatGPT has taken the tech world by storm in recent months with its ability to produce everything from poetry to business strategy in human-like conversation.

However, analysts say the technology is transformative, which is also said of blockchain and the metaverse.

Here’s what companies – including in China – are doing in this special area of ​​AI:

US startup OpenAI is racing to beat rivals by launching ChatGPT in November, according to The New York Times, citing sources. Common interfaces are becoming popular for everything from homework help to strategy development.

OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment.

Database software startup PingCap already has a ChatGPT-based product on the market. The company has offices in Beijing and San Mateo, California.

PingCap launched “Chat2Query” for customers outside of China in January that uses OpenAI’s publicly available application programming interface.

The product allows clients to analyze a company’s operating data in seconds — such as the best-selling car model — without the need to understand computer programming languages, said Liu Song, vice president of PingCap. It says Chat2Query is free for clients to process data up to 5 gigabytes.

“We think the revolution may not be in AI search but in every business,” he said in Mandarin, translated by CNBC. However, he noted that the data should be organized in a standardized manner.

BaiduChinese search engine and technology giant, said on Wednesday that the AI ​​chatbot project will be embedded in the first search, and opened to the public in March.

The product is named “Ernie bot” in English or “Wenxin Yiyan” in Chinese, the company said earlier.

Although we don’t know about the capabilities of Ernie’s bot – and how it compares to ChatGPT – Baidu’s supported video streaming platform iQiyi has announced plans to connect to bots for search and AI-generated content. Baidu-backed electric car startup Jidu – which has yet to start delivering cars – also said it would integrate the Ernie bot.

Ali Baba is scheduled to release its quarterly earnings on Friday afternoon. The Chinese e-commerce and cloud giant said it was testing ChatGPT-style technology, and gave no timeline for its launch. However, Alibaba says it has been working on related AI technology since 2017.

Chinese e-commerce rival JD.com doesn’t have a launch date, but says “ChatJD” will focus on retail and finance. It will help with tasks such as creating product overviews on shopping sites and financial analysis, the company said.

Tencent, which operates the ubiquitous Chinese messaging app WeChat, said in a statement it continues to research natural language processing. It is a field in artificial intelligence based on ChatGPT.

While ChatGPT has become a trending topic in China this month, even for state media, analysts note the country’s censorship and data regulations could affect how similar technologies develop in the country. Beijing has emphasized building its own technological capabilities.

Nikkei Asia on Wednesday reported, citing sources, that regulators told Tencent and Alibaba-affiliated Ant Group not to provide access to ChatGPT services on their platforms, either directly or through third parties.

The report did not specify which regulator. China’s cybersecurity regulator, Tencent and Ant did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

But in terms of technical capabilities, the U.S. is only months — not years — ahead of China in such AI research, Microsoft executives told reporters this month. ChatGPT is not available in China, although Microsoft operates in the country.

The executive said the state-backed Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence is one of three global leaders in artificial intelligence research, along with Google’s DeepMind and Microsoft’s partnership with OpenAI.

Kunlun Tech expects to release an open-source Chinese version of ChatGPT starting in the middle of this year, president Han Fang told CNBC last week. Open source software is publicly available and allows anyone to view, change or distribute the code.

The company, which generates most of its revenue outside of China, has previously said that niche web browser Opera plans to integrate ChatGPT into its products, though it’s not clear when or with what functionality.

Kunlun Tech has been working in the field of AI-generated content, such as music.

Fang said the commercialization plan is to develop such AI tools. Creators can then use the tool to create their own work and publish it on designated platforms for public viewing, after which the company can sell ads, he said. They expect to launch the platform later this year.

Fang said he was directly inspired by OpenAI’s early version of ChatGPT technology in 2020.

“We all talk about the metaverse, but who’s in it?” said in Mandarin, translated by CNBC. “It just changed our news. It didn’t change our lives.”

In contrast, it says that generative AI technologies can immediately provide value because they operate where users have already generated and consumed content. Generative AI can also lower production costs, allowing animators and minority language speakers to easily create their own content, Fang said.

The implications for jobs and industry remain significant.

The arrival of AI such as ChatGPT means that many “cognitive tasks” seem easier to automate than manual work such as in factories – a surprise to many economists, said Anton Korinek, professor in the Department of Economics and Darden School of Business, University of Virginia.

“The amazing but also a bit scary part is that the power of these systems has continued to advance over the past few years,” he said, adding that he expects more powerful AI technology this year.

“This will show that the model will have a revolutionary impact on our economy, productivity, the labor market and ultimately on society in general.”

— CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal and Lauren Feiner contributed to this report.