Alibaba, the Chinese technology giant, has announced its plans to launch its own artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, Tongyi Qianwen, which will be integrated into the company’s various businesses in the near future.
Tongyi Qianwen, which roughly translates to “seeking an answer by asking a thousand questions,” will be added to Alibaba’s workplace messaging app, DingTalk, and will perform tasks such as taking notes during meetings, writing emails, and drafting business proposals.
The chatbot will be available in both Chinese and English and integrated into Tmall Genie, Alibaba’s smart speaker similar to Amazon’s Alexa.
This move comes after Alibaba announced earlier this year that it was working on a rival to Microsoft-backed OpenAI’s chatbot, ChatGPT, which was released in November of last year.
ChatGPT is capable of learning from past data to create content indistinguishable from human work, and it can answer questions using natural, human-like language. It can also mimic other writing styles, using the internet as it was in 2021 as its database.
Microsoft has spent billions of dollars on the technology, which was added to its search engine Bing 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 technology group Baidu have also announced their own AI models and released similar chatbots. Interest in generative AI has surged in recent months, and the use of this technology has sparked concerns about its potential impact on the job market and privacy.
In response to these concerns, China’s cyberspace regulator unveiled draft measures for managing generative AI. Under the proposed rules, companies would be responsible for the legitimacy of data used to train the technology. The Cyberspace Administration of China has called for feedback on the proposals until May 10th.
A group of high-profile figures in the technology industry, including Twitter CEO Elon Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, signed an open letter last month calling for the suspension of training powerful AI systems amid fears of a threat to humanity. The letter warned that the race to develop AI systems is out of control.
Earlier this month, Italy became the first Western nation to block ChatGPT due to privacy concerns. The country’s data-protection authority cited the risks of allowing a chatbot that could replicate human-like language and expression to access and process personal data.
Alibaba’s move to launch its own AI chatbot reflects the increasing use of generative AI in various industries and its potential to streamline business processes.
However, it also highlights the need for companies and regulators to address concerns about the impact of AI on the job market and privacy.
As the use of generative AI continues to expand, it is likely that more measures will be proposed and implemented to manage its potential risks and benefits.
