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In a continuing trend that’s witnessing more companies join the tech revolution in creating advanced generative artificial intelligence, Alibaba—the Chinese tech and e-commerce giant—has announced its edition of an online chatbot AI. In a recent conclave, the company’s chief executive officer unveiled a competitor to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which is being developed by AliCloud. The division is the company’s cloud computing offshoot which is directly overseen by its CEO Daniel Zhang. Having announced the endeavor in September 2022, Alibaba’s chatbot also made a few rounds in news and tech circles in the initial weeks of 2023, indicating the firm’s continued interest in creating AI technologies like ChatGPT. This reveals a key trend emerging in Chinese companies that are eager to release their own editions of online chatbot AIs in a bid to compete with their American counterparts. Baidu, another Chinese firm, also launched its chat-based artificial intelligence named Ernie in March 2023, attracting a great degree of global attention.
As more firms join the growing trend of generative artificial intelligence and machine learning, China’s technological regulators have also taken note of the phenomenon. The country witnessed the release of draft rules and regulations ratifying the norms to be followed for companies that are involved in creating artificial intelligence and other autonomous systems such as language models. While details surrounding Alibaba’s ChatGPT rival are still sparse, speculations abound regarding the company’s contribution to the growing list of generative transformers and chatbots. The below sections detail the information surrounding the novel AI and what it holds in store for the ever-evolving and interesting world of artificial intelligence.
Alibaba’s Online Chatbot AI
Tongyi Qianwen was revealed to the public recently after several months of speculation.
Alibaba’s chatbot and rival to ChatGPT were announced at the famed Alibaba Cloud Summit, where the company’s leading names highlighted the quickly transforming world that necessitates the development of generative artificial intelligence while furthering the prospects of cloud computing. AIs like ChatGPT will continue to become more prevalent in the world, with several Chinese AI companies undertaking vast projects to develop the same. Tongyi Qianwen—Alibaba’s chatbot—is expected to undergo corporate beta trials before it is released to the general public. The name of the chatbot loosely translates to “seeking answers through a thousand questions” and will likely remain an interactive AI based on a language model framework. The growth of Alibaba’s cloud computing division is set to expand with the development and integration of Tongyi into Alibaba’s existing systems and networks, making the venture a lucrative opportunity for the firm and its investors.
As Alibaba continues to proliferate its technologies to develop and optimize its chatbot, it might grow to compete with American counterparts like Bard and ChatGPT. Other popular chatbots like Claude, too, remain in key testing stages, signaling that the industry is at the precipice of what might eventually turn into a stiff competition to create online AI chatbots for numerous use cases. Other Chinese AI firms like SenseTime are also focused on developing AIs like ChatGPT, having revealed a novel language model named SenseNova and its associated chatbot SenseChat just a day before Tongyi Qianwen’s unveiling. Stiff competition within both the Chinese and global markets is set to further push the industry toward large-scale acceleration of knowledge acquisition and technological innovation. Alibaba’s announcement comes at a time of particular importance where increasing debates surrounding pausing AI development have taken center stage, further elucidating the fact that technological advancements once set in motion cannot be delayed or avoided.
An AI Like ChatGPT: Tongyi Qianwen’s Utility
Alibaba has joined other major tech giants in creating generative artificial intelligence with an eye on the future.
Following the launch, Alibaba’s executives stated that its chatbot would first see implementation in its company-wide internal communications interface and workplace messaging platform DingTalk. The AI is expected to allow Alibaba’s employees to summarize information and take down meeting notes alongside offering help with drafting emails. The company also mentioned in a later press release that its online chatbot AI would also be integrated with its Tmall Genie service, which is Alibaba’s venture into the Internet of Things, allowing its users to access intuitive suggestions like health tips or picking out playlists for an engaging workout. With these initial use cases, Alibaba’s chatbot is also expecting its corporate clients to join Tongyi Qianwen’s beta testing phases, which will allow the company to weed out numerous concerns and bugs from the language model’s functioning. Along with this, the AI will also be trained based on the interactions it has with numerous users and the feedback they provide to further improve the overall functionality of the AI chatbot.
The interface of Alibaba’s AI is capable of working in both English and Chinese, allowing a larger pool of clients to take part in its initial phases of testing. Following this, Alibaba also plans on adding additional capabilities to its chatbot. This would include text-to-image generation capabilities as seen in popular generative artificial intelligence platforms like Midjourney and Dall-E. Moreover, image recognition capabilities will also be included in the upcoming set of updates; however, it still remains unclear whether or not Tongyi Qianwen will support multi-modal inputs like the famed GPT-4 iteration of OpenAI. The formal entry of Alibaba in the online AI chatbot space will only influence other Chinese AI firms to begin developing their own iterations of language models, furthering the pursuit of better artificial intelligence across the country and beyond.
The Outlook
Educators must keep track of key tech developments to ensure that they remain prepared for the future of academics.
As more companies race to compete in an increasingly stiff technological race, the quest for dependable and responsible AI remains one that is being followed in hot pursuit. The efforts of Chinese AI companies will soon come under the purview of the tightly centralized and regulated injunctions of the Chinese government and its policies on artificial intelligence. As competition grows, the prevalence of AI and language models are only bound to grow, making it all the more apparent that educators and educational institutions must take a proactive approach toward assessing artificial intelligence and making way to oversee and implement AI in existing educational systems. The arrival of adaptive learning and personalization of education will be another offshoot of the ongoing AI revolution, further pushing forth a rethink in traditional teaching structures. Developments in global technology markets and their implications must be watched closely to ensure students have trustworthy and reliable modes of learning.