Alibaba To Develop ChatGPT-style AI Chatbot

Alibaba To Develop ChatGPT-style AI Chatbot

News by Roberto Orosa
Published: February 09, 2023

Alibaba becomes the latest tech firm to join the race in developing a competitive ChatGPT-like artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot. 

The Chinese multinational company said it is currently running internal tests on the tool, making it available for use to Alibaba employees.  

No information regarding the release of the tool has been released, but Alibaba has hinted at making the AI software available in its existing products and services. “As a technology leader, we will continue to invest in turning cutting-edge innovations into value-added applications for our customers as well as their end-users through cloud services,” an Alibaba spokesperson told CNBC.  

Newspaper reports mention the possibility of Alibaba merging its tool with the communication app DingTalk, however the company has declined to comment. 

The tech giant has been focused on developing AI technology and large language models since 2017, and the tool might be the company’s biggest step forward yet. “Frontier innovations such as large language models and generative AI have been our [focus] areas since the formation of DAMO in 2017,” the spokesperson explained. 

Since the news, Alibaba’s U.S. shares have gone up 3.2% in premarket trade. 

Meanwhile, Chinese search engine Baidu also saw a jump in shares (15%), after it announced the development of its own generative AI tool, Ernie Bot 

This week, Alphabet’s Google also announced the trials of its developing AI chatbot Bard, expected to rollout in the coming weeks.  

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