The competition to develop artificial intelligence (AI) continues as China advances the development of homegrown AI without using the most advanced technology from the United States due to sanctions.
According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, Chinese companies are investigating methods to develop artificial intelligence using weaker semiconductors and chip combinations to avoid dependence on a single form of hardware.
China breaks the mold in AI development
China’s efforts to develop its own AI chips have been aided by a number of factors. For one, China has a large and growing market for AI technologies, which has provided a strong incentive for Chinese companies to invest in research and development. Additionally, China has a large pool of talented engineers and scientists who are working on cutting-edge AI technologies, which has helped to push the country’s AI chip development forward.
According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, researchers and analysts believe it will be difficult for Chinese technology companies to create alternatives to these chips, but some experiments have shown “promise.”
In October 2022, U.S. sanctions against China prevented Chinese companies from gaining access to the most advanced chips on the market. This includes the A100 and H100 chips from Nvidia, which are the most popular options for AI development.
Currently, the Chinese market has access to Nvidia chips A800 and H800, which are only capable of supporting AI models on a limited scale.
Alibaba plans to roll out a ChatGPT competitor
In April, the Chinese e-commerce behemoth Alibaba announced it would be launching Tongyi Qianwen, a ChatGPT competitor, in the “near future.” Alibaba intends to incorporate the chatbot into its portfolio of applications, including the DingTalk workplace messenger.
ChatGPT was created by the American company OpenAI. However, the race to produce the most effective and efficient AI system has begun, even among American businesses.
Microsoft has recently published a number of new AI-powered features for its existing chatbot and web browser Edge, which are rumored to be competitors to ChatGPT. In addition, Google’s AI division DeepMind is rumored to be restructuring in order to deliver the most recent AI advancements.
However, before they can operate publicly, the Chinese government will conduct a mandatory assessment of all generative AI services released in the country.
Chinese government vs AI fake news
AI has its benefits. However, the current wave of fake news has brought to light the downside of AI adoption. China will not let fake news become a norm in the country. A suspect identified only as “Hong” was detained and apprehended in the Gansu district of China for allegedly generating fake news stories using ChatGPT.
According to the South China Morning Post, Hong was detained on April 18 after law enforcement agents discovered an investigation into an unsubstantiated article about a train collision.
The arrest of Hong for “using artificial intelligence technology to concoct false and untrue information” occurred after cybersecurity experts discovered that at least 20 accounts had concurrently posted the fake news article to a popular blogging site hosted by Chinese tech conglomerate Baidu.
China has some of the strictest laws regarding the use of social media in the globe. The police stated that Hong was detained for violating an ordinance against “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” a catch-all law that includes the dissemination of fake news and rumors on the internet.
Under the standard law, Hong faces up to five years in prison if convicted. However, if the court deems the offense to be grievous, the defendant could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison under the law’s extended provisions for crimes deemed particularly severe.
While the ChatGPT service is now prohibited in China, its use can be circumvented by using virtual private networks (VPNs).
The lack of solid generative AI models in China could have a chilling effect on the country’s innovation industry, particularly in industries such as fintech and cryptocurrency trading, where the adoption of ChatGPT and products built on OpenAI’s GPT API has skyrocketed in popularity.
