Wuzhen Summit sees Alibaba and Baidu show off latest AI products as Chinese rivals play catch-up to OpenAI’s GPT-4 Turbo

The Wuzhen Summit, a significant event in the tech industry, recently witnessed Alibaba and Baidu, two major Chinese corporations, showcasing their latest artificial intelligence (AI) products. They are striving to match the capabilities of OpenAI's GPT-4 Turbo, a highly advanced AI model backed by Microsoft. GPT-4 Turbo has been upgraded with a larger memory capacity, allowing it to remember up to 300 pages of text in a single prompt. It also offers more affordable pricing for developers and has a knowledge cut-off date up to April 2023. These advancements are expected to widen the gap between OpenAI and its Chinese competitors.

According to Xu Liang, an entrepreneur in the AI sector, tech firms and start-ups will need to increase their investments to keep pace with OpenAI's progress. If they lag too far behind, their products may fail to meet user expectations. Some companies may choose to focus on developing proprietary models, while others may opt to build industry-specific models with bespoke capabilities. The demand for AI talent in China is surging, but there is a shortage of skilled professionals. Lu Yanxia, a research director at IT consultancy International Data Corp, believes that GPT-4 Turbo will inspire local tech firms to invest more in natural language processing, a crucial technology that enables AI chatbots to understand and process complex human languages.

OpenAI launched its groundbreaking ChatGPT a year ago, which has the potential to transform traditional industries. However, governments have also warned of its potential dangers if not properly regulated. Currently, ChatGPT and Google's Bard are not available in mainland China, prompting Chinese competitors to develop alternatives. At the Wuzhen Summit, Alibaba, Baidu, and AI specialist iFlyTek are expected to demonstrate their latest capabilities in the generative AI space. Chinese President Xi Jinping has reiterated his calls for the safe development of AI, emphasizing that while AI should be leveraged to power economic growth, potential negative consequences must be avoided. Due to Beijing's focus on internet security, foreign chat bots like ChatGPT and Bard remain blocked, although some netizens still access them via virtual private networks. Xu Liang notes that due to internet restrictions, stable access to OpenAI's latest AI model will continue to be an issue, making Chinese enterprises reliant on domestic AI models.