Chinese tech giant Alibaba has announced plans to launch its own ChatGPT-like artificial intelligence (AI) product called Tongyi Qianwen.
The cloud-computing unit says it will integrate the chatbot into all of Alibaba’s stores in the “near future,” but gave no details on its timeline.
In recent months, tech companies around the world have unveiled their own so-called generative AI chatbots.
Earlier this year, Alibaba announced it was working on a rival to ChatGPT.
Tongyi Qianwen roughly translates to “seeking an answer by asking a thousand questions,” though Alibaba didn’t provide an English version of the name.
“We are at a technological inflection point, powered by generative AI and cloud computing,” said Daniel Zhang, Alibaba’s chairman and chief executive, when Tongyi Qianwen was launched.
The company said Tongyi Qianwen, who can work in both English and Chinese, will first be added to DingTalk, Alibaba’s workplace messaging app.
It will perform a range of tasks, including turning conversations into meetings into written notes, writing emails and drafting business proposals, the company said.
Alibaba said it will also be integrated with Tmall Genie, which is similar to Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant smart speaker.
Interest in generative AI has increased since Microsoft-backed OpenAI released ChatGPT in November.
Generative AI is able to learn from past data to create content indistinguishable from human work.
ChatGPT can answer questions in natural, human-like language and also mimic other writing styles, using the internet as a database like in 2021.
Microsoft spent billions of dollars on the technology, which was added to its Bing search engine in February.
The US software giant also said it will embed a version of ChatGPT in its Office apps, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook.
Alphabet’s Google and Chinese tech giant Baidu have also announced their own AI models and released similar chatbots.
Last month, a group of high-profile tech figures called for the suspension of training on powerful AI systems, fearing a threat to humanity.
Twitter CEO Elon Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak were among those who signed an open letter warning of potential risks and saying the race to develop AI systems is out of control.
Meanwhile, a recent report by investment bank Goldman Sachs estimated that AI could replace the equivalent of 300 million full-time jobs.
Earlier this month, Italy became the first western nation to block ChatGPT, with the country’s data protection regulator citing privacy concerns.
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