China’s ChatGPT counterparts include Baidu’s new ‘Ernie.’ Beijing aims to capitalize on the military potential of large language models, raising concerns.
As Chinese tech companies unveil their answers to ChatGPT, experts warn that China’s artificial intelligence landscape poses a host of threats.
On Aug. 31, tech giant Baidu introduced Ernie, the Chinese counterpart to ChatGPT, while Alibaba announced its AI model, Tongyi Qianwen, on Sept. 13.
Although Ernie was initially unveiled in March, the chatbot has now been approved and is available for download.
“In addition to ERNIE Bot, Baidu is set to launch a suite of new AI-native apps that allow users to fully experience the four core abilities of generative AI: understanding, generation, reasoning, and memory,” Baidu said in a statement announcing Ernie’s release.
As strategic competition heats up within the United States, Beijing has increased its support of Chinese companies working with AI. Alibaba’s cloud intelligence division said in a message on its WeChat account that several organizations, including OPPO, Taobao, DingTalk, and Zhejiang University, have reached cooperation agreements with Alibaba to train their own large language models (LLMs) on Tongyi Qianwen.
China’s use of cutting-edge AI tools could potentially enhance national security risks for its adversaries, experts say.
“Employing large language models such as ChatGPT, Alibaba’s Tongyi Qianwen or similar AI systems can potentially be considered a security threat as misinformation, automated attacks, ethical concerns, and data privacy,” said AI researcher and author Sahar Tahvili. Ms. Tahvili is the author (with Leo Hatvani) of “Artificial Intelligence Methods for Optimization of the Software Testing Process: With Practical Examples and Exercises.“
Generative AI describes algorithms that can generate new content, including audio, code, images, text, simulations, and videos. LLMs are the text-generating component of generative AI.
LLMs involve a deep learning algorithm that can perform a variety of language processing tasks, such as recognizing, translating, predicting, or generating text or other content.
The Chinese are 15 years ahead of the rest of the world in using complicated AI LLMs, estimates Ashwin Kumaraswamy, a deep tech investor based in the UK. Mr. Kumaraswamy sits on the board of a number of tech companies.
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