It is pointed out that China is lagging behind in AI tools like ChatGPT due to tightening control due to censorship and geopolitical tensions



While OpenAI and Microsoft have completed chat-type AI for the general public, Chinese technology companies are lagging behind in developing the same type of chat-type AI. In response, experts point out that 'government control is one factor.'

Chinese tech giants forge a different path in AI chatbot frenzy - CGTN

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2023-02-17/Chinese-tech-giants-forge-a-different-path-in-AI-chatbot-frenzy-1huZ6ifZyMg/index.html

Why Chatbots like ChatGPT Weren't Invented in China - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/17/business/china-chatgpt-microsoft-openai.html

So far, China has maintained momentum on par with the United States in the field of artificial intelligence. Many of the products of Chinese companies, such as the messaging app 'WeChat' and the payment service 'Alipay,' have better functions than American products, and venture capital is pouring in from all over the world in search of technology and demand. I was. At one point, it had grown to produce as many major startups as Silicon Valley, but after 2010, the government began to get involved, according to The New York Times.

In order to control the institutions and individuals who can wield influence in Chinese society comparable to that of the Communist Party, the government has cracked down on the country's largest high-tech companies and prominent high-tech entrepreneurs, and has taken minority shares in some of these companies. became a director and acquired effective control. In order to enforce censorship, it has sometimes severely punished companies.

For example, Duolingo, a platform for learning foreign languages, has suffered from being removed from the app store shortly after entering the Chinese market under the guise of tightening content regulations. In order to develop a technology like ChatGPT, it is essential to obtain a wide range of data, but it seems that development is becoming difficult as long as political repression called censorship is being carried out.

For that reason, it is said that Chinese high-tech companies are proceeding with development with a cautious approach that is different from American companies. JD.com, a major e-commerce company, is developing a conversational AI 'ChatJD', which is an industrial AI mainly focused on the retail and financial industries. It has optimized performance. In addition, it is reported that NetEase, which develops online games, is developing an AI specializing in English education.

Chinese companies are developing ChatGPT-like style products one after another - GIGAZINE



Qingfeng Liu, founder and CEO of AI voice interaction platform iFlytek, said that general-purpose AI applications like ChatGPT require a surprising amount of money to maintain. Instead of maintaining such products, Chinese companies are developing AI specialized in specific fields, which may result in gaining competitiveness in the industry and even surpassing American companies.

Jinqiao Wang, professor at the Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, said, 'In terms of technology and human resources, China has no shortage of technologies similar to ChatGPT. China has the largest number of Internet users in the world, and abundant application scenarios. It clearly has an advantage in data accumulation,' he said, emphasizing that the future prospects are bright.

On the other hand, Wang acknowledges that there are differences between China and the United States in terms of large-scale language models. One expert pointed out, 'There is no global model in China that can match the excellent performance of ChatGPT, and the technology gap between China and the United States is about two years.' However, China's Economic Information Technology Bureau has announced that it will support major companies in building large-scale AI models that can compete with ChatGPT, so it is quite possible that the gap will narrow in the future.



Weidong Yi, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said, 'If we can take advantage of the opportunities of the government's ample support for industrial development, heavy capital and technology investment by China's high-tech giants, and a huge user base, Chinese companies will be able to compete.' I think we have the potential to win.'

in Software, Posted by log1p_kr