Five Chinese tech companies, including Baidu and SenseTime Group, launched their artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots to the public on Thursday after receiving government approval, as the Chinese government pushes to broaden the use of such products amid competition with the United States.
Baidu, China’s leading online search engine, said in a statement that its ChatGPT-like chatbot, Ernie Bot, is now fully accessible to the public. A SenseTime spokesperson told Reuters via email that its chatbot, SenseChat, was also now “fully available to serve all users.”
Three AI startups, Baichuan Intelligent Technology, Zhipu AI and MiniMax, also announced similar public launches on Thursday.
Shares of Baidu and SenseTime rose in Hong Kong trading, rising 2.1 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively, in a broader market that traded 0.55 percent lower.
Unlike other countries, China requires companies to submit safety reviews and obtain approval before releasing AI products to the mass market.
Authorities recently accelerated their efforts to support companies developing AI as the technology increasingly becomes a focus of competition with the United States.
Chinese media reported that a total of 11 companies had received government approval, including TikTok owner ByteDance and Tencent Holdings. Neither company immediately responded to requests for comment about their AI plans.
Baidu’s CEO Robin Li said on Thursday that by making Ernie Bot widely available, Baidu would “gather an enormous amount of valuable real-world human feedback” to further improve the chatbot.
Baidu also plans to release a series of “AI native apps,” the company said.
Early mover advantage
It is unclear whether Alibaba has received approval as of this week. But an Alibaba Cloud spokesperson told Reuters that the company had completed filings for its AI model, Tongyi Qianwen, and the model was awaiting official launch.
The person also said the company expected regulators to release a list of companies with approvals in the coming week.
Being the first to market in China for the country’s cutthroat internet industry is considered crucial. Baidu’s Ernie Bot topped the free apps category on Apple’s App Store in China on Thursday after the announcement.
“I think those who are approved have an early mover advantage because they can refine their product faster than competitors,” said Kai Wang, an analyst at Morningstar.
ChatGPT maker OpenAI, which is backed by Microsoft, is on track to generate more than $1 billion (nearly Rs. 8,270 crore) in revenue over the next 12 months, tech-focused publication The Information reported Tuesday.
The approvals were widely anticipated after China published a set of interim rules aimed at regulating generative AI products for the public, which took effect on August 15.
Previously, companies were only allowed to conduct small-scale public testing of AI products, but with the new rules, companies have expanded their AI product testing by enabling more features and engaging in more marketing. No prior government approval is required for products aimed at businesses.
Shawn Yang, an analyst at Blue Lotus Capital Advisors, said the government’s move to greenlight AI products could spark industry consolidation.
“A lot of people plunged into the big language model business,” he said, “but the industry could consolidate soon. Only those with data and technology capabilities will be able to move forward.”
© Thomson Reuters 2023