Skip to main content

China Clamps Down On Access to ChatGPT As AI Race Intensifies: Report

OpenAI's ChatGPT, which was launched in November last year, has exploded in popularity worldwide and has become the fastest-growing consumer application in history. The chatbot has been grabbing eyeballs with its ability to have natural conversations with users and answer a range of questions.

Needless to say, the software's success has already ruffled some of the biggest technology firms, prompting Alphabet Inc and Microsoft Corp to hastily debut new functions in Google and Bing. As the AI race heats up, major tech companies in China are also scrambling to create their own homegrown version. Meanwhile, authorities are now clamping down on the usage of the chatbot, with several popular Chinese apps removing access to ChatGPT, as per a CNN report. 

Though ChatGPT is not officially available in China, residents have been using virtual private networks and foreign phone numbers to help bypass restrictions. However, over the weekend, things seemed to have changed.

Searches for ChatGPT on Chinese platforms no longer returned results, while workaround programs had been disabled or replaced with a notice saying they had been suspended for “violating relevant laws and regulations”, the South China Morning Post reported.

Apps called ChatGPTRobot and AIGC Chat Robot said their programs had been suspended due to ''violation of relevant laws and regulations.'' Even Shenlan BL and AI Duihua told their users that their ChatGPT access services had become “unavailable” without specifying a reason. Other apps, like ChatgptAiAi and Chat AI Conversation, also met with the same fate.

A user told SCMP that his personal WeChat account was blocked last week, three days after he embedded a ChatGPT API. 

As of now, it's not really clear what prompted these closures. However, the CNN report says that there might be some political reasons. State-run media on Monday released a video in which it is claimed that the chatbot could be used by US authorities to ''spread disinformation and manipulate public opinion.'' 

Recently, a team from China's Fudan University developed a ChatGPT-like chatbot platform but it crashed hours after it launched to the public, due to a sudden surge of traffic.

Apart from China, OpenAI does not allow users in Hong Kong, Iran, Russia and parts of Africa to sign up.



from NDTV News-World-news https://ift.tt/TKbBCLy

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Muhammad Now The Most Popular Name For A Baby In Great Britain, Data Shows

427 years after William Shakespeare wrote it for the first time in the great "tragedy" Romeo & Juliet, England is asking the quintessential question - "What's in a name?" - And this time wondering what significance that question might hold in another 42.7 years. The Department of Statistics in the United Kingdom has revealed in its latest dataset that Muhammad is officially the most popular name for a newborn boy in England and Wales. More than 4,600 babies were registered with that name in 2023 - the highest for a boy. Muhammad was the second-most popular name in 2022 as well. Noah, once the most popular name in UK, came a distant second this year, according to the Office for National Statistics or ONS. But the staff at Great Britain's statistical office has in-fact been observing the trend for a while now. Jotting down the most popular names in the UK, besides other important statistics, it revealed that Muhammad has been among the top 10 names for...
Post a Comment
Read more

US Issues $25-Million Bounty On Venezuela President On Day Of His Oath

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whose nearly 12 years in office have been marked by deep economic and social crisis, was sworn in for a third term on Friday, despite a six-month-long election dispute, international calls for him to stand aside and an increase in the US reward offered for his capture. Maduro, president since 2013, was declared the winner of July's election by both Venezuela's electoral authority and top court, though detailed tallies confirming his victory have never been published. Venezuela's opposition says ballot box-level tallies show a landslide win for its former candidate Edmundo Gonzalez, who is recognized as president-elect by several countries including the United States. International election observers said the vote was not democratic. The months since the election have seen Gonzalez's flight to Spain in September, his ally Maria Corina Machado going into hiding in Venezuela, and the detentions of high-profile opposition figures and ...
Post a Comment
Read more

It's Official, Kamala Harris Is Democratic Candidate For US Election

US Vice President Kamala Harris effectively secured the Democratic party's presidential nomination Friday, confirming her remarkable rise to party standard bearer in November's showdown against Republican Donald Trump. Kamala Harris was the sole candidate on the ballot for a five-day electronic vote of nearly 4,000 party convention delegates. She will be officially crowned at a Chicago convention later this month. "I am honored to be the presumptive Democratic nominee for President of the United States," Kamala Harris, 59, said on a phone-in to a party celebration after securing enough votes by the second day of the marathon vote. In the two weeks since President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid, Kamala Harris has gained full control of the party. No other Democrats stepped forward to challenge her elevation to the top of the ticket, making her confirmation as the first Black and South Asian woman ever to secure a major party's nomination a formality. The a...
Post a Comment
Read more