Even as major Chinese tech companies scramble to create their own version, several well-known Chinese apps have blocked access to ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence chatbot that has taken the globe by storm.
The Chinese social media platform WeChat has a number of apps that previously permitted access to ChatGPT, a chatbot created by the American research group OpenAI, without the need for a VPN or foreign phone number.
Those doors now seem to be closed. The applications ChatGPTRobot and AIGC Chat Robot stated earlier this week that their services had been halted owing to “violation of applicable laws and regulations,” without naming which legislation.
Two further apps, ChatgptAiAi and Chat AI Conversation, claimed that “important business changes” and policy modifications caused their ChatGPT services to be unavailable.
Even less specific, the app Shenlan BL gave “many reasons” for the closure.
There are further indications that China may be losing interest in ChatGPT, even if it’s unclear what caused these closures. The chatbot’s comments on Xinjiang were used as presumptive evidence of bias in a film aired by state-run media on Monday, in which it was claimed that the chatbot might be used by US authorities to “spread disinformation and manipulate public opinion.”
When asked about Xinjiang, ChatGPT recounts the alleged human rights violations committed by the Chinese government against ethnic minorities there, including mass detentions and forced labour. These claims have been frequently refuted by Beijing, which asserts that detention facilities were once “vocational education and training institutions” but have since been shut down.
Other recent official media pieces have expressed disapproval and doubt regarding ChatGPT, with China Daily opining that its development underscores the necessity for “tight restrictions.”
On Thursday, several Chinese tech firms saw a decline in their share prices as a result of rumours that ChatGPT services had been deleted from WeChat apps. AI data products developed and produced by Beijing Haitian Ruisheng Science Technology closed 8.4% lower.
Hanwang Technology and Beijing Deep Glint Technologies, two companies that create AI-related goods and services, concluded with respective losses of 10% and 5.5%.
In an earnings call, Baidu CEO Robin Li stated that the rollout will “provide a new entry point for the next-generation internet” and that the company anticipates “more and more business owners and entrepreneurs to build their own models and applications on our AI Cloud.”