China tech companies are closely watching ChatGPT's A.I. skills. Here's what they're doing

cnbc.com:

BEIJING — The business story of ChatGPT right now is more about what isn't known.

Big tech companies in the U.S. and China rushed this month to announce they are working on similar AI tools. Their announcements often referenced Microsoft-backed ChatGPT, while disclosing few details on what they themselves were working on.

The artificial intelligence-powered chatbot ChatGPT has taken the tech world by storm in the last few months with its ability to generate everything from poems to business strategies in a human-like conversation.

Still, analysts say the tech is transformative, something that's also been said about blockchain and the metaverse.

Here's what companies — including those in China — are doing in this specialized area of AI:

U.S. startup OpenAI raced to beat rivals by launching ChatGPT in November, according to The New York Times, citing sources. The public interface skyrocketed in popularity for everything from homework help to strategy development.

OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment.

Microsoft is investing billions of dollars into OpenAI.

The funding is critical. Every ChatGPT conversation costs a few cents to complete, the startup's chief executive said in December.

Microsoft plans to revamp its little-used Bing search engine with tech from OpenAI in a bid to compete with Google. But early users of «Bing AI» report inaccuracies and creepy conversations with the chatbot.

Google's rush to announce its AI-based search tool Bard also revealed mistakes. The company asked staff to rewrite wrong answers, CNBC reported.

Apple has kept quiet about its AI plans, reportedly not saying anything about ChatGPT-related tech at an internal artificial intelligence event. Apple did not respond to a request for