The media reported that this week China will approve the first batch of generating artificial intelligence services for public implementation.
The expected decision of the Chinese authorities will allow local technology giants, including Baidu, to become participants in the process of competing with companies such as OpenAI and Microsoft.
The media, citing insiders who are aware of the immediate plans of the Cyberspace Administration of China, report that this regulator will allow several companies, including both large structures and firms at the initial stage of existence, to introduce generative machine intelligence services. Also, persons who know about the intentions of official Beijing claim that the giant of the search segment of the Chinese Internet space will be one of the first to whom the authorities will grant the right to the mentioned activity. Insiders reported the information on the rights of anonymity due to the fact that this data is not publicly available.
At the same time, Baidu posted a publication on its WeChat account containing information that Ernie Bot, its competitor of ChatGPT, will be available to the general public from August 31. This message confirms the data of insiders. There is information that the Chinese Internet giant also plans to launch several applications with which users will have access to the functions of generative artificial intelligence.
A few weeks ago, the Chinese government approved new rules for regulating AI. Approval for the deployment of machine intelligence services will obviously include an obligation to comply with these standards. After Baidu is expected to receive approval for the introduction of AI, access to digital products similar to ChatGPT will be officially provided to more than 1 billion Internet users for the first time.
According to experts, the licensing practice by regulators is an event of some historical scale, which will become a kind of impetus for the development of the Chinese AI industry and its potential leaders. Companies from this country, after the debut of ChatGPT, spent billions of dollars to create similar services. Representatives of the Chinese technology sector, which has significant potential, have made many efforts to fully compete with Microsoft and Google in the advanced technology industry.
The Chinese authorities perceive artificial intelligence as a tool for implementing processes in the business sphere and as a means of political influence, given the fact that AI in the future can significantly change the familiar landscape of human existence.
Baidu presented Ernie Bot in March. Since then, Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings have established partnerships with startups working in the high-tech industry.
So far, there are no official comments on the cyberspace administration’s decision, which is important for the Chinese area of artificial intelligence. The mentioned Baidu message in WeChat can be described as the most understandable hint, but there is a possibility that in this case, the company, being in a state of exciting expectation, is overly confident in the result, which is not really guaranteed.
Official Beijing has designated AI as one of the technological priorities at the state planning level. Over the past two years, the Chinese authorities have applied harsh measures against private businesses, which also includes the development of machine intelligence models, and now they have turned to this sector of the economic system for help. This behavior of the country’s leadership is explained by the fact that solutions are currently urgently needed to support the economy, which is in a state of weakening.
China and Europe have made very rapid progress in regulating artificial intelligence, which has the status of a grandiose technology capable of changing the world, which is why the perception of AI by certain individuals has a negative character since any changes are associated with the unknown future and with the inability to understand the final image of tomorrow. In the United States, such legislative initiatives are still being discussed, although local technology giants have warned the government about significant risks arising from the spread of machine intelligence.
Chinese regulations on generative AI, which came into force on August 15, stipulate that suppliers of relevant technologies must obtain approval before offering their developments to users. These measures will allow the authorities to control the content, and provide local companies with conditions for growth and competition with American firms.
The rules stipulate that the services hosting materials potentially capable of influencing public consciousness must undergo a security check procedure and explain the algorithms for keeping records. These norms are a relaxed version of the draft regulation presented in April, which indicates an improvement in the attitude of the authorities to the AI industry.
In August, the billionaire co-founder of Baidu, Robin Li, said that this company is cooperating with regulators in order to promote the right culture of using generative artificial intelligence. In June, this firm reported that Ernie Bot surpassed ChatGPT in several indicators. This month, Tencent said that its artificial intelligence model is already one of the best in China. Alibaba is currently integrating an AI configuration similar to ChatGPT into its meeting and messaging apps. The desire to add a machine intelligence model to other digital products and systems is explained by the fact that in this case there is less state control
Experts say that the ability of Chinese developers to compete with their American and European counterparts may be limited due to the fact that the United States has imposed sanctions that deprive companies in China of access to the best chips for learning AI configurations.
As we have reported earlier, AWS Launches AI Startup Accelerator in China.
