Can Alibaba's AI model 'Tongyi Qianwen' challenge OpenAI's dominance
What's the story
Chinese companies are in a race to develop a challenger to OpenAI's ChatGPT. Most recently, Alibaba Group-backed SenseTime introduced an AI model and a chatbot. But now, Alibaba Group itself has launched a GPT-like AI model dubbed Tongyi Qianwen. Notably, Alibaba is the second Chinese company to introduce its own large language model after Baidu.
Context
Why does this story matter?
Chinese firms have been working on AI for a long time. However, ChatGPT's sudden rise in popularity has put immense pressure on them to come up with something similar or even better. The country's government wants China to become an AI superpower. However, for that to happen, a chatbot that can challenge ChatGPT's credentials is necessary.
AI model
AI model can summarize meetings, draft business proposals
Alibaba's AI model is based on Tongyi, the company's proprietary pre-trained model framework. Tongyi Qianwen, like its US rivals, has certain abilities. Although we are not aware of all of them, the AI model can draft invitation letters, plan the itinerary for a trip, and advise shoppers about what make-up to buy. It can also summarize meeting notes, write emails, and draft business proposals.
Apps
Alibaba plans to integrate model into business applications
Alibaba plans to integrate Tongyi Qianwen into all its business applications. DingTalk, the company's workplace messaging app, will be the first recipient. The company's voice assistant Tmall Genie will also get the AI model. Alibaba Cloud aims to make the AI model available to clients to help them make their own customized large language models.
Official words
AI will change way we live: Alibaba CEO
"We are at a technological watershed moment driven by generative AI and cloud computing, and businesses across all sectors have started to embrace intelligence transformation to stay ahead of the game," said Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang. He added that it "will bring about big changes to the way we produce, the way we work, and the way we live our lives."
Challenger
Chinese firms not far behind in AI race
The pertinent question here is, can Tongyi Qianwen challenge ChatGPT from OpenAI? Alibaba has enormous aspirations for its AI model. From what we know so far, it seems Tongyi Qianwen is more directed toward businesses. The AI does have capabilities akin to ChatGPT. SenseChat and Tongyi Qianwen show that Chinese firms are not that behind building a suitable challenger to OpenAI's phenom.