2023-08-31 13:31:37
It is the Chinese answer to the American ChatGPT. Chinese internet giant Baidu launched its conversational robot Ernie Bot on Thursday, a major step in China’s drive to be a world leader in artificial intelligence by 2030.
“We are delighted to announce that Ernie Bot is now fully available to the general public, starting August 31,” Baidu said in a statement.
This technology, which has been arousing worldwide enthusiasm for months, comes up against the Asian giant’s desire to control online information, and Baidu had to seek their authorization before placing it on the market.
The software, downloadable in application stores and on the group’s official website, is mainly aimed at the Chinese market in the immediate future. It works mainly in Mandarin but also understands questions in English.
“In addition to Ernie Bot, Baidu is set to launch a series of new AI-born applications that will allow users to fully experience the four core capabilities of generative AI: understanding, producing, reasoning and memory,” the company added.
Tested Thursday morning by AFP, the platform easily answered trivial questions like “What is the capital of China?” or “Do you have hobbies?” “.
But, questioned on more sensitive subjects such as the violent repression of the pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square in Beijing in 1989, she seems less inspired: “Let’s change the subject and start again”, she announces, before redirecting the user to the main page.
” Let’s talk about something else ”
Asked about the current Dalai Lama – who openly criticizes the Chinese government and lives in exile – Ernie Bot gives AFP information on the Dalai Lama… who lived in the 17th century.
As for the question about the wealth of President Xi Jinping – another taboo subject in China – it leads to a rather vague answer on the salaries of government officials.
“Is Taiwan an independent country? prompts an unsurprising response as Beijing claims the island as part of its territory: “Taiwan is a provincial-level administrative region of the People’s Republic of China, not a country.” “Let’s talk about something else,” adds Ernie Bot immediately.
More generally, to the question “Can we freely discuss any subject?” the software replies, “Yes, we can talk about anything you want.” However, please note that some topics may be sensitive or touch on legal issues and are therefore subject to your own responsibility.
The Californian start-up OpenAI had launched in November 2022 ChatGPT, a conversational system (“chatbot”) capable of formulating detailed answers in a few seconds on a wide range of subjects or writing dissertations.
The prowess of ChatGPT is followed with passion in China, where the interface is however blocked without circumvention software such as VPN and foreign telephone number.
“Security Inspection”
China aims to become a world leader in artificial intelligence by 2030, which will revolutionize a multitude of sectors including the automotive industry and medicine.
The Chinese Baidu was the first in its country to announce that it was working on a local equivalent to ChatGPT, which it presented in March. But its beta version was initially only available in a limited way.
The announcement of its launch for the general public was well received on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Thursday morning, where Baidu shares gained 3.3% at 03:30 GMT.
Internet and video game champion Tencent and e-commerce pioneer Alibaba had also announced that they were working on the subject.
Faced with this euphoria for these new tools, China announced in April that it would impose a “safety inspection” on artificial intelligence tools before authorizing their marketing.
AI-generated content must “reflect core socialist values and must not contain [d’éléments relatifs] to the subversion of state power”, according to this regulation.
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