Factbox-Chinese tech firms working on ChatGPT-style technology

tech.hindustantimes.com:

The global buzz around Microsoft chatbot ChatGPT has spread to China, shoring up stocks in artificial intelligence (AI) related firms and prompting a flurry of local companies to announce rival projects.

Like Microsoft and Google，Chinese tech giants such as Baidu and Alibaba as well as smaller start-ups have been working on AI projects for years.

Chatbots in China mostly focus on social interactions whereas ChatGPT, which learns from vast amounts of data how to answer prompts by users in a human-like manner, performs better at more professional tasks, such as programming and essay writing.

Here is a list of Chinese tech companies that have recently made announcements on AI technology:

BAIDU

Baidu Inc said on Feb. 7 it would complete internal testing of a ChatGPT-style project called "Ernie Bot" in March.

ALIBABA

Alibaba Group on Feb. 8 said it is developing a ChatGPT-style tool currently in internal testing. The e-commerce giant said large language models and generative AI have been areas of focus since it formed its research institute Damo Academy in 2017.

TENCENT

Tencent Holdings said on Feb. 9 is conducting research on the ChatGPT-tool technology and the firm will continue to invest in AI research based on its current technical reserves in foundation model, machine learning algorithms and natural language processing.

JD.COM

E-commerce company JD.Com said on Feb. 10 it plans to launch a product similar to ChatGPT that it said will be called ChatJD and will be aimed at serving other businesse.

NETEASE

Gaming firm NetEase plans to deploy large language models technology to serve its education business, a source familiar with the company told Reuters on Feb. 8.

360 SECURITY TECHNOLOGY INC

360 Security Technology Inc said on Feb. 8 it