In the push to launch its own version of ChatGPT, Alibaba Cloud will need to take in account the impact of regulations in China and the influence of competitors.
Alibaba Cloud, one of the major subsidiaries of Chinese multinational tech giant Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd (HKG: 9988), is reportedly set to launch its own ChatGPT rival in what has become a major frenzy in today’s tech world. As reported by Bloomberg, Alibaba Cloud has been sending invitation codes to some of its corporate clients to help it test out the new application using Large Language Models (LLMs) which is the brain behind the functioning of ChatGPT.
The name of the new application from the tech giant is “Tongyi Qianwen” notably adapted in part from the philosopher Mencius. The name is translated as “Truth from a Thousand Questions” and it aptly describes what role the new application will play in the Alibaba tech ecosystem.
That every tech company around is now looking to launch their own conversational chatbot is not a coincidence as the fight for dominance in search engine and digital advertising is soaring to a whole new pedestal. The advent of ChatGPT by OpenAI saw more than 100 million users within the first few months, prompting a shift in the conversational approach of chat applications.
While it remains unclear how Alibaba hopes to utilize its own version of ChatGPT, the tech giant powers some of the most visited applications in China and the Asian continent ranging from WeChat to the firm’s ecommerce marketplace.
With the testing, Alibaba wants users to record and report their findings but as observed, the chatbot may only work for Chinese users as the instructional language is in Mandarin. The proposed launch time might be tipped off next when Alibaba Cloud CEO, Daniel Zhang is set to deliver a speech at a Technology Summit that the company is set to host.
Alibaba Cloud and ChatGPT: Regulation and Competition
In the push to launch its own version of ChatGPT, Alibaba Cloud will need to take in account the impact of regulations in China and the influence of competitors.
The Chinese tech ecosystem is just experiencing some forms of freedom as the Xi Jinping government has been cracking on the sector since 2020. While the regulations governing AI are existent, there are concerns that they may not be able to account for the level of sophistication that LLM applications can introduce.
Though the clamor of ChatGPT-like application is most popular among American companies like Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOGL) and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), Chinese companies are also beginning to wade into the industry with definitive interest.
For Alibaba Clouds to thrive in its pursuit in the long term, it must account for the impact of the competition from firms like Baidu Inc which has debuted Ernie, its own chatbot built with similar technology.
Alibaba’s investors are hyped with the latest events and the price is up by 2.20% over the past 24 hours to 97.75 Hong Kong Dollars.
Benjamin Godfrey is a blockchain enthusiast and journalists who relish writing about the real life applications of blockchain technology and innovations to drive general acceptance and worldwide integration of the emerging technology. His desires to educate people about cryptocurrencies inspires his contributions to renowned blockchain based media and sites. Benjamin Godfrey is a lover of sports and agriculture.
