Alibaba Unveils 'Chatbot'... Chinese Government Announces 'Regulations'

Alibaba AI Chatbot Service Launched
Chinese Government Announces Censorship Guidelines
Interpreted as Pressure from Chinese Authorities

China's largest e-commerce company Alibaba launched an AI chatbot service similar to ChatGPT, and immediately after, regulatory authorities announced technical regulation guidelines signaling censorship. The authorities explained that the decision was made to eliminate potential threats to the national system, but it is also interpreted as a continuation of the government's pressure on Alibaba and big tech companies.

Jack Ma, Chairman and CEO of Alibaba Group, unveiled the AI chatbot service 'Tongyi Qianwen (通?千?)' at the Alibaba Cloud Summit held in Beijing on the 11th. (Photo by Weibo)

According to local media including the Chinese economic outlet Caixin on the 11th, Daniel Zhang, Chairman and CEO of Alibaba Group, unveiled the AI chatbot service 'Tongyi Qianwen (通?千?)' at the Alibaba Cloud Summit held in Beijing that day. Tongyi Qianwen means 'Truth from 1000 Questions.' Zhang explained that all of Alibaba's products will be connected through the self-developed Tongyi Qianwen model in the future, and this service will change the production, work, and life paradigms of users across various sectors.

Since OpenAI released ChatGPT in November last year, Alibaba has been perceived as a relatively late entrant in the related service market in China, where Baidu, SenseTime, and others have also entered. However, Zhang expressed confidence, saying, "We are at a technological turning point led by generative AI and cloud computing," and added, "Looking back 10 to 20 years from now, we will realize that we all started from the same starting line."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Coincidentally, after Alibaba's announcement, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) released regulatory measures for generative AI content. The authorities had already announced last month that they would introduce various rules to regulate AI usage, and this announcement provided more detailed background and guidelines. The authorities stated, "Content produced by generative AI must reflect core socialist values and must not include content that advocates the overthrow of state power or incites national division, thereby undermining national unity," and presented related measures. According to the announcement, AI content providers must submit relevant service details to the authorities for security review before making the service public, and platforms must be able to verify users' identities and track usage.

The National Internet Information Office stated on the same day, "Suppliers will be responsible for the legality of the data used to train generative AI and must take measures to prevent discrimination in algorithm design and data training, as well as to prevent the generation of false information." At the same time, it added, "China supports AI innovation and application and encourages the use of safe and reliable software, tools, and data resources." The office plans to collect feedback on the draft regulations until the 10th of next month.

After Alibaba founder Jack Ma, who had been subject to intense government regulation following his public criticism of Chinese financial authorities, appeared in mainland China, the market speculated that regulatory pressure on Alibaba and big tech companies might ease. Ma was seen visiting Hangzhou, where Alibaba's headquarters are located, last month, marking his return to mainland China after about a year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.