Alibaba has announced the launch of its own ChatGPT-style tool, making it the latest tech behemoth to jump on the chatbot bandwagon.
The Chinese behemoth stated that it was internally testing an artificial intelligence-powered chatbot. It did not say when it would be available or what the application would be called.
“Frontier innovations such as large language models and generative AI have been our [focus] areas since the formation of DAMO in 2017,” a spokesperson for Alibaba (BABA) told CNN in a Thursday statement, referring to an acronym for the company’s research arm that focuses on machine intelligence, data computing, and robotics.
“As a technology leader, we will continue to invest in transforming cutting-edge innovations into value-added applications for our customers and end users.”
On Thursday morning, Alibaba’s Hong Kong-listed shares rose 1.4%.
Companies all over the world are racing to create and release their own versions of ChatGPT, the application that allows users to write essays or pass tests automatically.
The tool is based on a large language model that has been trained on massive amounts of data collected online in order to generate compelling responses to user prompts. Long have experts warned that these tools have the potential to disseminate inaccurate information.
Google (GOOGL) and Baidu (BIDU), the Chinese search engine giant, both announced plans to launch similar services this week.
Google’s “Bard” tool will be available to the public in the coming weeks, while Baidu’s bot, dubbed “Wenxin Yiyan” in Chinese or “ERNIE Bot” in English, will debut in March.
However, Bard suffered an embarrassment this week after responding incorrectly during a public demonstration.
Following the news, Alphabet, Google’s parent company, fell nearly 8% on Wednesday.
Microsoft (MSFT) has also entered the fray. On Tuesday, Microsoft announced a redesign of its Bing search engine, saying it would use artificial intelligence to answer questions, chat with users, and generate content in response to prompts.
