China’s tech giant Baidu has introduced its ChatGPT counterpart, Ernie Bot, to the public, marking a big development for the country’s tech industry as it catches up with its objective of capitalising on the global artificial intelligence growth.
The Chinese government recently enacted new laws for AI developers, allowing them to compete with large firms like Microsoft and OpenAI while simultaneously retaining stringent control over internet information.
The Ernie Bot is the first domestic AI application to be fully accessible to the public in China and is not available outside of the country.
“In addition to Ernie Bot, Baidu is set to launch a suite of new AI-native apps that will allow users to fully experience the four core abilities of generative AI: understanding, generation, reasoning, and memory,” the company said in a statement.
Ernie Bot was released in March but its availability was limited, according to reports.
Generative AI programs are educated on massive amounts of data as well as user interactions to answer questions, even complex ones, in human-like language.
The fast popularity of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which is prohibited in China, inspired an international rush to develop competing apps, including image and video generators, but also considerable concern about the possibility of abuse and deception.
Chinese generative AI apps must “adhere to the core values of socialism” and refrain from threatening national security and promoting terrorism, violence, or “ethnic hatred”, according to the guidelines published this month.
They included provisions for labelling AI-generated content and curtailing “false and harmful information”.
According to the laws, service providers must also undertake security evaluations and file reports on their algorithms with the authorities if their software is assessed to have an impact on “public opinion.”
Baidu, a significant Chinese technology business, competes with Tencent and focuses on AI, cloud computing, and autonomous driving technology.
