Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:
ChatGPT frenzy sweeps China as firms scramble for
home-grown options (1/2)
Fri, February 10, 2023 at 2:00 a.m. PST
By Josh Ye
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Microsoft-backed OpenAI has kept its
hit ChatGPT app off-limits to users in China but the app is attracting huge
interest in the country, with firms rushing to integrate the technology into
their products and launch rival solutions.
While residents in the country are unable to create OpenAI accounts to access the artificial intelligence-powered (AI) chatbot, virtual private networks (VPN) and foreign phone numbers are helping some bypass those restrictions.
At the same time, the OpenAI models behind the ChatGPT programme, which can write essays, recipes and complex computer code, are relatively accessible in China and increasingly being incorporated into Chinese consumer technology applications from social networks to online shopping.
The tool's surging popularity is rapidly raising awareness in China about how advanced U.S. AI is and, according to analysts, just how far behind tech firms in the world's second-largest economy are as they scramble to catch up.
"There is huge excitement around ChatGPT. Unlike the metaverse which faces huge difficulty in finding real-life application, ChatGPT has suddenly helped us achieve human-computer interaction," said Ding Daoshi, director of Beijing-based internet consultancy Sootoo. "The changes it will bring about are more immediate, more direct and way quicker."
OpenAI or ChatGPT itself is not blocked by Chinese authorities but OpenAI does not allow users in mainland China, Hong Kong, Iran, Russia and parts of Africa to sign up.
OpenAI has never publicly explained those restrictions and did not respond to Reuters' request for comments.
In December, Tencent Holdings' WeChat, China's biggest messaging app, shut several ChatGPT-related programmes that had appeared on the network, according to local media reports, but they have continued to spring up.
Dozens of bots rigged to ChatGPT technology have emerged on WeChat, with hobbyists using it to make programmes or automated accounts that can interact with users. At least one account charges users a fee of 9.99 yuan ($1.47) to ask 20 questions.
Tencent did not respond to Reuters' request for comments.
ChatGPT supports Chinese language interaction and is highly capable of conversing in Chinese, which has helped drive its unofficial adoption in the country.
Chinese firms also use proxy tools or existing partnerships with Microsoft, which is investing billions of dollars in its OpenAI, to access tools that allow them to embed AI technology into their products.
Shenzhen-based Proximai in December introduced a virtual character into its 3D game-like social app who used ChatGPT's underlying tech to converse. Beijing-based entertainment software company Kunlun Tech plans to incorporate ChatGPT in its web browser Opera.
SleekFlow, a Tiger Global-backed startup in Hong Kong, said it was integrating the AI into its customer relations messaging tools.
"We have clients all over the world," Henson Tsai, SleekFlow's founder said. "Among other things, ChatGPT does excellent translations, sometimes better than other solutions available on the market."
(to be continued)
Translation
香港（路透社） - 微軟支持的 OpenAI 一直禁止中國用戶使用其熱門的 ChatGPT 應用程序，但該應用程序在中國引起了巨大興趣，各公司爭先恐後地將這項技術整合到他們的產品中，並推出作為競爭對手的解決方案。
雖然該國居民無法創建 OpenAI 帳戶來訪問人工智能 (AI) 聊天機器人，但虛擬專用網絡 (VPN) 和外國電話號碼正在幫助一些人繞過這些限制。
與此同時，ChatGPT 程序背後的 OpenAI可以編寫論文、食譜和復雜的計算機代碼模式，在中國相對容易獲得，並且越來越多地被納入從社交網絡到在線購物的中國消費技術應用程序。
該工具的迅速普及, 正在迅速喚醒中國對美國人工智能有多先進的認識，據分析師稱，世界第二大經濟體的科技公司在努力追趕同時, 醒覺已落後了多遠。
北京互聯網諮詢公司速途网的總監 Ding Daoshi 說: “ChatGPT 令人興奮不已。相對與在元宇宙虛擬世界尋找現實生活中的應用有巨大困難的不同，ChatGPT 突然幫助我們實現了人機互動”; “它將帶來的變化是更即時、更直接、更快。”
OpenAI 或 ChatGPT 本身並未被中國當局封鎖，但 OpenAI 不允許中國大陸、香港、伊朗、俄羅斯和非洲部分地區的用戶註冊。
OpenAI 從未公開解釋過這些限制，也沒有回應路透社的評論請求。
據當地媒體報導，去年 12 月，中國最大的知訊應用程序騰訊控股的微信關閉了在網絡上出現的幾個與 ChatGPT 相關的程序，但它們仍在繼續湧現。
微信上出現了數十個固定在ChatGPT 技術的自動運行的計算程式，愛好者們用它來製作可以與用戶互動的程序或自動賬戶。 至少有一個賬戶向用戶收取 9.99 元（1.47 美元）的費用以詢問 20 個問題。
騰訊沒有回應路透社的置評請求。
ChatGPT 支持中文互動，並具有很強的中文對話能力，這有助於推動其在該國的民間採用。
中國公司還使用代理工具, 或用與微軟的現有合作夥伴關係 , 去獲取允許他們進入可將人工智能技術嵌入其產品的工具。微軟正在其 OpenAI 上投資數十億美元。
總部位於深圳的 Proximai 於 12 月在其 3D 類遊戲社交應用程序中引入了一個虛擬角色，該角色使用 ChatGPT 的基層技術進行對話。 北京的娛樂軟件公司 Kunlun Tech 計劃將 ChatGPT 整合到其網絡瀏覽器 Opera 中。
由 Tiger Global 支持的香港初創公司 SleekFlow 表示，它正在將 AI 整合到與其客戶的公關訊息傳遞工具中。
SleekFlow 的創始人 Henson Tsai 說:
“我們的客戶遍布全球”; “除此之外，ChatGPT
的翻譯非常出色，有時甚至比市場上的其他解決方案還要好。”
(to be continued)
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