As the world goes gaga over an AI chatbot called ChatGPT, experts believe that developing its Chinese competitor will surely face censorship, cost and data challenges, as in the case of big Internet companies like Alibaba and Tencent, the media reported on Monday.
According to the South China Morning Post, a recent white paper published by the municipal technology bureau of Beijing offered support to local companies in developing ChatGPT rivals.
"But this will be easier said than done, owing to differences in the structure of the English and Chinese languages, cost pressures, availability of data sets, and last but not least - the thorny issue of censorship in China," the report noted.
"Censorship could certainly hinder China's ability to develop a local equivalent to ChatGPT," Dahlia Peterson, a research analyst at Georgetown University's Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET), was quoted as saying.
Even if (Chinese) AI companies are able to access and utilise global data and research resources to train their AI models, "it is unlikely the Chinese authorities will allow them to use any material deemed as politically sensitive in their replies", she stressed.
China's ruling Communist Party has always controlled the flow of political and social discussion within the country.
The restrictions limit the data sets which scientists use to train AI chat models, said the report.
"Excessive restrictions, content regulation, and censorship could hinder commercialisation and further innovation of such technologies," said CSET's research analyst Hanna Dohmen.
Earlier this month, Alibaba confirmed that the company's research institute Damo Academy is conducting an internal testing of an AI chatbot.
Damo unveiled a natural language processing model with 27 billion parameters in 2021, after OpenAI released GPT-3 with 175 billion parameters in 2020.
However, the unique character of the Chinese language is another challenge to developing a ChatGPT rival.
"Training a Chinese language AI chat bot is also difficult because the country's open source ecosystem is not as developed and extensive as in the West," according to Xu Liang, founder of Yuanyu Intelligent.
Yuanyu Intelligent launched ChatYuan, a ChatGPT-inspired service as a mini-app on Tencent Holdings' WeChat in January.
Compliance is another issue in China, according to the report.
ChatYuan's mini-app was suspended last week after authorities said such products need more scrutiny of their content.
‘Pahalgam incident deeply disturbing & tragic’: Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan
Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday termed the Pahalgam terror attack as disturbing & tragic and also condoled the victims and their families.
Congress finally deletes 'Gayab' post targeting PM Modi after outrage
Under fire from the BJP over its social media post targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress finally, on Tuesday, took down the controversial post.
Guterres calls EAM Jaishankar, Pak PM Sharif; stresses pursuing justice in Pahalgam terror attack
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stressed the importance of pursuing justice in the Pahalgam terrorist attack while speaking with External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Muhammad Shebaz Sharif, his Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Tuesday.
Congress organises ‘Save Constitution’ rallies across NE states
The opposition Congress has been organising ‘Samvidhan Bachao’ (Save Constitution) campaign in the northeastern states. Claiming that the Constitution is in danger under the BJP-led Central government, the opposition Congress held a massive rally in Agartala on Tuesday.
RSS chief Bhagwat meets PM Modi after security huddle: Signs of a hard-hitting response in the works
In a significant political development, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his official residence at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg on Tuesday evening.
What PM Modi's free hand to armed forces against terror means for cross-border action?
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s unambiguous message during a high-level security meeting - ‘India is determined to deliver a crushing blow to terrorism’ - marks more than just a strong statement of resolve.
Justice BR Gavai appointed as next Chief Justice of India
Justice Gavai was elevated as a Judge of the Supreme Court on May 29, 2019. Appointed as Additional Judge of the Bombay High Court in November 2003, he became a permanent Judge in November 2005.
Three more Bangladeshi nationals held in Tripura
The Tripura Frontier of the Border Security Force (BSF) on Tuesday apprehended three Bangladeshi nationals, including a woman, for illegally entering India, officials said.