China instructs big tech corporations to not provide ChatGPT services; details here

Major tech companies in China have been told by the nation’s regulators to not offer ChatGPT services to the public. This comes amid the growing concern in Beijing regarding the artificial intelligence-powered chatbot’s uncensored replies to user queries. Tencent Holdings and Ant Group, have been told not to provide ChatGPT services on their platforms, either directly or through third parties, as told to Nikkei Asia by people aware of the matter. Chinese Tech firms will also be required to report to regulators before they roll out their own ChatGPT-like services, as per the report. As the chatbot becomes more famous around the world, Beijing-based tech giants like Tencent, Alibaba and Baidu have revealed their own plans to develop ChatGPT-like services. The services will be like that of ChatGPT, but do not integrate the AI chatbot itself, as clarified by the companies.

ChatGPT, which has been created by Microsoft-backed startup OpenAI, is not officially available in China. However, some users were able to gain access to it with the help of virtual private networks (VPN). Also, dozens of “mini programs” have been released by third-party developers on Tencent’s WeChat social media app that claim to provide services from the chatbot. Tencent has suspended some of these third-party services under regulatory pressure, regardless of whether they were connected to ChatGPT or were just copycats.

The move to block the chatbot by the regulators comes after an official backlash against ChatGPT. On Monday, China Daily said in a post on Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter, that the chatbot could help the US government spread disinformation and manipulate global narratives for its own geopolitical interests.

According to  sources in the tech industries, they are not surprised by the decision of Chinese regulators. An executive from a leading company told Nikkei Asia, “Our understanding from the beginning is that ChatGPT can never enter China due to issues with censorship, and China will need its own versions of ChatGPT.”

This is not the first instance of  China blocking foreign websites or apps. It blocked American websites and apps Google, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter between 2009 and 2010. It instituted bans on Reddit and Wikipedia between 2018 and 2019.

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