ChatGPT makes unofficial inroads in China amid competition bids from Baidu, Alibaba

Microsoft-backed ChatGPT is attracting significant interest in China, with country's homegrown firms reportedly rushing to integrate the technology into their products. The ChatGPT app, however, remains off-limits to users in China purportedly 'protected' by Beijing's 'great firewall'.ChatGPT supports Chinese language interaction and is highly capable of conversing in Chinese, which has helped drive itsadoption in the country.OpenAI or ChatGPT itself is not blocked by Chinese authorities but OpenAI does not allow users in mainland China, Hong Kong, Iran, Russia and parts of Africa to sign up.

Reports say that people in China are usingvirtual private networks and foreign phone numbers to access the artificial intelligence-powered (AI) chatbot.

"There is huge excitement around ChatGPT. Unlike the metaverse which faces huge difficulty in finding real-life application, ChatGPT has suddenly helped us achieve human-computer interaction," said Ding Daoshi, director of Beijing-based internet consultancy Sootoo was quoted as saying by Reuters.

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"The changes it will bring about are more immediate, more direct and way quicker."

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OpenAI told Reuters it is working to make its services more widely available.

"While we would like to make our technology available everywhere, conditions in certain countries make it difficult or impossible for us to do so in a way that is consistent with our mission," the San Francisco-based firm said in an emailed statement cited by Reuters. "We are currently working to increase the number of locations where we can provide safe and beneficial access to our tools."

Potential competition from Baidu, Alibaba in China

Dozens of bots rigged to ChatGPT technology have emerged on China's WeChat network.Many people are reported to beusing it to make programmes or automated accounts that can interact with users. At least one account charges users a fee of 9.99 yuan ($1.47) to ask 20 questions.

Meanwhile, the country'slargest tech giants such as Baidu and Alibaba updatedthis week on Artificial Intelligencemodels they have been working on, prompting their shares to zoom.

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Baidu is testingits "Ernie Bot" in March, a big AI model the search firm has been working on since 2019. On Wednesday, Alibaba said that its research institute Damo Academy was also testing a ChatGPT-style tool.

(With inputs from agencies)

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