China’s ChatGPT ambitions are hindered by the ban on AI chips from the US

According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP), since its launch in November 2022, the chatbot conversation software of San Francisco-based startup OpenAI (USA) has become a worldwide phenomenon. demand, attracting the attention of Internet users worldwide for its ability to conduct human-like conversations.

As big tech companies in China race to introduce similar technologies in the country, experts at a global AI developers conference held in Shanghai over the weekend pointed out that ambition Competition with US ChatGPT may be limited due to the lack of AI chips.

If China wants to create its own ChatGPT, we need at least tens of thousands of A100 chips to get the software to work as desired ,” said Zheng Weimin, a professor at Tsinghua University of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. , which refers to high-performance processors made by California-based chip company Nvidia.

In 2022, the US government announced an order restricting Nvidia from selling A100 chips to customers in China.

According to Yang Fan, co-founder and vice president of SenseTime, a leading Chinese AI software company, the price of the A100 chip has increased by 50% in the past two weeks amid the outbreak of ChatGPT fever.

“ China has not yet been able to produce chips and software that can support at least 50 to 70 percent of the computing power needed to run ChatGPT ,” Yang said.

Zhang Yaling, founder and chief executive officer of Shanghai-based AI chip startup Enflame Technology, said China is still heavily dependent on Nvidia’s AI chip software ecosystem because it has yet to form its own supply system.

“We hope that with the strong push of the government, the concerted efforts of the whole industry, and the continuous investment, we can build an ecosystem suitable for our own AI chip,” he said. Zhang added that he hopes China can make its own software on par with ChatGPT within the next three to five years.

Despite the technological challenges, many Chinese companies expressed optimism that ChatGPT conversational software will bring new opportunities in China.

“ With ChatGPT, we saw for the first time the surprising logical thinking ability of AI, allowing it to think for itself and make complex decisions,” said Li Di, CEO of Xiaoice, a subsidiary of Microsoft. in China launched a smart assistant application in 2014 – said.

“This new revolutionary trend will create opportunities for everyone, from those who develop the next models to those who create applications based on them,” said CEO Li.

SenseTime co-founder and CEO Xu Li says the advent of advanced AI is like an industrial revolution.

Although ChatGPT is not available in China, it has become a hot topic of discussion among Internet users in the country, especially after tech giants like Baidu and Alibaba announced their intention to launch it. similar services.

Earlier this month, search giant Baidu said it would complete an internal test of the ChatGPT-like Ernie Bot in March, while Alibaba said the Damo research institute is developing its own AI chatbot. Other tech companies such as JD.com, Zhihu, Xiaomi and 360 Security Technology have also announced plans to integrate AI chatbots into the service.

According to Jeff Walters – Director of consulting firm Boston, the value of AI is predicted to reach 60 billion USD by 2025, accounting for 30% of the global AI market, as this technology develops more applications outside. ChatGPT.

However, in China, the development of AI still faces many challenges because it is still dominated by foreign platforms and has difficulty in attracting skilled workers in this field.