Chinese firm SenseTime and e-commerce giant Alibaba roll out ChatGPT-like generative AI tools

In AI developments from China, the Chinese AI firm SenseTime has introduced SenseNova, a set of large AI models, to develop generative AI applications, according to a report by South China Morning Post (SCMP). SenseTime is one of the major artificial intelligence software providers in China. According to the SCMP report, SenseNova will cover key capabilities like computer vision, natural language processing, and AI-generated content. Among the models that SenseTime offers, SenseChat has emerged as a prominent one as it is said to be ChatGPT’s equivalent as it can produce long texts and engage in multiple rounds of conversations. The company also provides applications, which SCMP notes, “can generate images based on text inputs in real time, and a product that can model the moves of humans to animate a digital being in a video”. SenseTime co-founder and CEO Xu Li informed SCMP that AI bots in China will initially be used in B2B or business-to-business situations, such as by e-commerce operators and video-game developers, before launching the products for B2C or business-to-consumer purposes. US Sanctions: SenseTime was blacklisted by the US in 2022 for its alleged role in surveillance of the Uyghur community and has been subjected to sanctions banning US investments in the firm. This also restricted sale of AI Accelerator chips—used for efficient processing of AI workloads—to Chinese customers. According to SCMP, SenseTime said that it has enough graphics processing units to carry on with SenseNova operations. Why it matters: Amid calls for a moratorium on launch…