Checkout Budget Highlights 2023Microsoft-backed OpenAI’s ChatGPT sees massive interest in China, setting off a rush to come up with a rival solution at the earliest and integrate it into their products. The mania has led to impressive gains in Chinese stocks that can be potential developers of a similar system, like Beijing Deep Glint Technology, Cambricon Technologies and TRS Information Technology.
But, as the froth clears, many experts wonder if ChatGPT could actually be cloned by small tech firms riding on the frenzy.
“Apart from companies with the strongest technical capabilities, most of the rest are probably just riding the wave. Such hype-driven rallies are never sustainable,” Sern Ling, managing director at Union Bancaire Privee, told Bloomberg.
The ChatGPT mania
So much is the puffery over the chatbot that Chinese residents are looking for ways to go around the restrictions, including opening an OpenAI account with foreign phone numbers and using virtual private networks, shared Reuters.
Shares of Chinese technology companies that investors deemed the best candidates to develop ChatGPT rival applications, soared in the past week. Investors even rushed to bet on small companies that have no history, capital, or expertise in creating a language tool as powerful as ChatGPT.
Reuters also reported several ChatGPT knock-offs popping up on WeChat last week, which were charging users for sending prompts and thus, capitalising on the trend.
Interestingly, Bloomberg recently said that the mania might die down soon, as Chinese tech players are increasingly realising the superiority of the ChatGPT system. Beijing Deep Glint Technology, one of the top candidates to develop a rival application, openly admitted that it does not have the expertise to develop ChatGPT-linked products.
Many market experts are speculating that this hype may be short-lived as it does not have the fundamentals to back a sustained rally. The ChatGPT hype in China is being compared with the frenzy around blockchain, which petered out after reaching staggering levels of gains.
Chinese tech leaders stand to be saving grace
One question lingers in the mind: is the frenzy over?
Granted, Beijing Deep Glint shares fell sharply on Monday after it admitted its technological limitations. However, it should be noted that at the end of Monday, Beijing Deep Glint did not end in the red. Rather, it pared the 10 percent loss that it witnessed during the day. Also, shares of other competing firms such as Cambricon Technologies and TRS Information Technology spiked over 5 percent, extending their recent rally.
Chinese tech players like Baidu, Alibaba, JD.com and NetEase recently announced their plans to develop their answers to Microsoft-backed OpenAI’s ChatGPT app, which has been kept off-limits to users in China.
To adhere to Beijing’s stringent regulations for technology companies, the companies made the announcement circumspective, saying that they will develop ChatGPT-style technology that can enhance Chinese tech products and applications.
Alibaba announced that it is building a ChatGPT-style technology that blended into its cloud computing products. NetEase’s education company Youdao has been developing generative AI which can be integrated into some of its education products.
No matter how the giants wish to navigate the Great Firewall of China while developing powerful indigenous ChatGPT counterparts, the burden inevitably falls on them. And rightly so, since they possess the capabilities of coming up with something worthy. The concern is only around the bubble growing around the smaller firms, which is likely to burst soon.
Having said that, although OpenAI has restricted the access of its technology to China-based users, the firm told Reuters that it is working on expanding its availability.
“While we would like to make our technology available everywhere, conditions in certain countries make it difficult or impossible for us to do so in a way that is consistent with our mission,” OpenAI told Reuters, adding that they are trying to “increase the number of locations where we can provide safe and beneficial access to our tools”.