The race to develop artificial intelligence (AI) continues as China pushes for indigenous artificial intelligence without using the latest US technology due to current sanctions.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Chinese companies are researching ways to develop artificial intelligence through a combination of weaker semiconductors and chips to bypass reliance on a single type of hardware.
Researchers and analysts believe developing alternatives to such chips will be difficult for Chinese tech companies, but some experiments show "promise," the report said. US sanctions on China in October 2022 deprive Chinese companies of access to the most advanced chips on the market. This includes Nvidia's A100 chip and the latest version, the H100, which are the most popular choices for AI development.
At present, the Chinese market has access to Nvidia chips A800 and H800, which can only support small-scale AI models. In April, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba announced that it would launch a ChatGPT competitor called Tongyi Qianwen in the "near f future .” Alibaba plans to integrate chatbots into its suite of apps, including its workplace messenger DingTalk. ChatGPT is the brainchild of the American company OpenAI. However, the race to create the best and most powerful AI systems is on, even among stateside companies.
Microsoft recently released various new artificial intelligence features for its existing chatbot and web browser, Edge, that are said to rival ChatGPT. Additionally, Google's artificial intelligence division, DeepMind, is said to be reorganizing for the latest AI breakthroughs.
Chinese authorities have announced the imminent mandatory review of all AI-generated services released within the country before they can operate publicly.
