By
Temitope Olatunji
April 2nd, 2024
According to people familiar with the matter at Tencent, the company has set up a development team to work on a new project.
Chinese conglomerate company Tencent Holdings has joined the growing list of companies working to develop a similar AI tool like ChatGPT. The Microsoft-backed ChatGPT has gained massive attention since its rollout and made several headlines. Since its launch, many tech giants have announced plans to develop a similar tool. As for the chatbot ChatGPT, an AI-backed tool, came with full force to cause a significant landmark in the technology world. Its ability to write excellent essays, solve technical coding problems, and the chatbot’s distinct feature in giving human-like responses to questions, etc., were part of its attractions. Notably, the move to create ChatGPT-like tools cut across tech companies worldwide, including China and the US.
Tencent Wants to Develop an AI-Backed Product like ChatGPT
The announcement by Tencent to also work on an AI tool like ChatGPT did not come as a surprise. With the disruption of the artificial intelligence chatbot in the tech space, it is only a matter of time before all tech companies produce something similar. Most companies emerging to work on the AI product have often referenced ChatGPT. According to people familiar with the matter at Tencent, the company has set up a development team to work on a new project, similar to ChatGPT, called “HunyuanAide.” Reuters cited two sources who refused to be identified, noting that the Chinese company will absorb its AI training model dubbed “Hunyuan.”
When Microsoft released a press release on its AI-powered Bing search engine and Edge browser earlier this month, the company said that the new Bing “takes key learnings and advancements from ChatGPT and GPT – 3.5.” While in its beta stage, users with access have discovered strange issues with the new Bing AI. The tool provided unhelpful answers and insisted it was right even when wrong.
Similarly, Google’s AI-based search tool Bard has also displayed inaccuracies that made the company ask its workers to fix wrong answers on the platform. Google’s vice president Prabhakar Raghavan sent an email with a link to a do’s and don’ts page with instructions on how to fix Bard. The shared document reads:
“Bard learns best by example, so taking the time to rewrite a response thoughtfully will go a long way in helping us to improve the mode.”
Chinese Companies Announce ChatGPT-Like Tools
Furthermore, Chinese companies Baidu and Alibaba are working on new technologies similar to ChatGPT. Baidu’s product is named “Wenxin Yiyan” in Chinese and “Ernie bot” in English. JD.com also said it would launch an industrial version of ChatGPT to fill the vacuum left by the OpenAI’s product. JD.com said that its ChatJD would offer all the features lacking ChatGPT and function in retail and finance. The company said the tool would be used for content generation, man-machine dialogue, user intent understanding, information extraction, and emotion classification.