Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings has assembled a team to create a chatbot that works similarly to the popular service ChatGPT.
When contacted by Reuters, Tencent reaffirmed a statement it made on February 9 on its investigation into ChatGPT-tool technology.
According to sources who were not authorized to speak to the media and requested anonymity, Tencent's "Hunyuan" artificial intelligence training model will be integrated into the product under the "HunyuanAide" brand name.
On Monday, news of the "HunyuanAide" initiative first appeared in the local news portal 36kr.
Similar products to ChatGPT are in development at competitors Alibaba Group and Baidu Inc.
Microsoft-backed ChatGPT sparked the pursuit because it has been named the fastest-growing consumer app ever since its release in November. In response to user input, the chatbot is capable of producing works of fiction, nonfiction, humor, and even poetry.
Bard AI, a similar tool recently unveiled by Google, was met with rough demonstration that day, sending parent company Alphabet's stock tumbling.
One of the most intensely disputed domains in the U.S.-China tech rivalry is AI-related technology competition, which carries with it geopolitical connotations.
Baidu's stock price hit a fresh 11-month high on Monday after the business announced it would soon release a "Ernie Bot," modeled after the popular ChatGPT platform; the underlying technology for the bot has been in the works at Baidu since 2019. Before making the chatbot available to the general public, the business plans to finish internal testing in March.
Soon after Baidu's statement, Alibaba followed suit, saying it is testing an internal version of a ChatGPT-like technology but providing no further specifics. Shares of the e-commerce behemoth ended Thursday in Hong Kong trading at a gain of 3.96 percent.
On Thursday, Tencent announced that research into ChatGPT-style and AI-generated content is proceeding "in an orderly manner."
JD.com, a major online retailer, has announced that it will implement natural language processing and other technologies used by ChatGPT and similar applications. NetEase, a massive gaming company, has announced that it is looking into using AI-created material in its educational division.
On Thursday, reports emerged from Chinese media that ByteDance's artificial intelligence lab had begun work on a number of projects aimed at developing VR technologies to be used by its Pico division. Nikkei was informed by a ByteDance insider that the report was untrue.
Shares of companies involved in China's artificial intelligence industry plummeted Thursday as state media warned about the dangers of "some new concepts" being overhyped.
