Alibaba Joins AI Chatbot Race With Innovative New Product

Alibaba, the Chinese tech giant, has announced its plans to release its own AI chatbot called Tongyi Qianwen, which will compete with Microsoft’s ChatGPT.

The company’s cloud computing unit has revealed that it will integrate the chatbot across its businesses in the near future, but did not provide details about the timeline.

Tongyi Qianwen translates to “seeking an answer by asking a thousand questions” in Chinese, and the company claims that the chatbot is capable of working in both Chinese and English.

It will initially be added to Alibaba’s workplace messaging app, DingTalk, where it will perform a range of tasks, including turning conversations in meetings into written notes, drafting business proposals, and writing emails.

The company also plans to integrate Tongyi Qianwen into Tmall Genie, which is similar to Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant smart speaker.

Alibaba’s chairman and CEO, Daniel Zhang, said that the launch of Tongyi Qianwen is a response to a “technological watershed moment driven by generative AI and cloud computing.”

Generative AI has seen a surge in interest since the release of Microsoft’s ChatGPT in November. This type of AI is capable of learning from past data to create content that is indistinguishable from human work.

ChatGPT can answer questions using natural, human-like language, and can mimic different writing styles, using the internet as its database.

Alphabet’s Google and Chinese tech group Baidu have also released their own AI models and chatbots. On Tuesday, China’s cyberspace regulator unveiled draft measures for managing generative AI, which proposed that companies would be responsible for the legitimacy of data used to train the technology.

The public has until May 10 to provide feedback on the proposals. However, concerns have been raised about the potential risks of AI, with a group of high-profile figures in the technology industry calling for the suspension of training powerful AI systems.

Among those who signed an open letter warning of potential risks were Twitter CEO Elon Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.

Furthermore, a recent report by investment bank Goldman Sachs estimated that AI could replace the equivalent of 300 million full-time jobs. Italy also became the first Western nation to block ChatGPT last month, citing privacy concerns.

Alibaba’s Tongyi Qianwen is another addition to the growing market for AI chatbots, which are being developed and rolled out by companies around the world.

As the technology continues to advance, the debate over its risks and benefits is likely to continue.