Alibaba has launched an AI chatbot to compete with OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The chatbot, available to the public for the first time, takes the form of a digital assistant that analyses files and generates text summaries of video and audio files. Plans are underway to introduce more features throughout the year, including real-time English-to-Chinese multimedia content translation and a Google Chrome extension. However, competition in the AI chatbot space is intense, with Amazon, Tencent and Microsoft all developing their own products. Meanwhile, Baidu has launched its chatbot, Ernie, into a larger AI ecosystem. In China, AI products must be assessed for national security threats before they are launched publicly following new national legislation. This move followed restrictions placed on access to ChatGPT. Chinese President Xi Jinping has also called for greater control of AI development.
Alibaba Group is the world’s largest retail commerce company. It operates predominantly in China and has an online marketplace platform for retail and wholesale trade, as well as cloud computing and digital media services.
China’s President Xi Jinping is the head of the Communist Party of China and assumed office in 2013. He has directed massive attention and investment into AI development, as part of a wider tech drive. He has now called for greater state control over AI, citing the need to protect national security.
