Chatbots have conquered China. At the end of June of this year, 230 million users have used one of the generative AI models and, despite the attempted closure by the authorities, ChatGPT is one of them. However, the favorite is Ernie Bot, a name that may not sound too familiar to us, but it is the chatbot developed by a giant like Baidu.
And now Ernie Bot is much more aware of the country’s political ideology: communism.
Ernie Bot. There is a lot of competition in China when it comes to chatbots, but the cake goes to Baidu’s system. It is not an AI exclusive to the Asian giant, since we can use Ernie Bot in the West without problems, and the truth is that those responsible for it have been doing their best. After a disappointing presentation in March last year, Baidu has been polishing the chatbot until it becomes a good alternative to ChatGPT.
Now, in China 11.5% of users use Ernie Bot, 7% ChatGPT and 3.8% Gemini. The national product has a good advantage over the two Western alternatives that, legally, should not be available.
The AI of communism. There are those who do not want to miss the train of popularity of Ernie Bot and, as we read in SCMP, there is a new tool available for the chatbot. Created in collaboration with Xuexi Qiangguo, an official application for members of the Communist Party to study their ideology and managed by the country’s propaganda authority, the new tool is a paradise for anyone who wants to create texts that Xi Jinping himself could sign.
Thus, the chatbot can now generate texts from official government documents and reports from state media controlled by the Government. Something that usually characterizes generative AI is inventiveness, but this time it seems that it will not go around the bush, as it will provide links to the original sources that are already curated by the relevant bodies.
“Reviewed and verified” The tool is directly called ‘Xuexi Qiangguo Official Document Assistant’ and, apart from generating texts based on the above, it can search for content in official articles to cite it. Also statements by Xi Jinping, all while guaranteeing that “the information is strictly reviewed and verified”
This may sound strange, but it is not so unusual in China, where it is common for certain people to write essays based on party ideology. Public officials or employees of state-owned companies, for example, can take advantage of this tool. But it is not the only thing that has been created in collaboration with Xuexi Qiangguo, since a few months ago several products were launched, such as other AI assistants to generate articles, videos and images, as well as headphones that transcribe meetings and even smart glasses.
Baidu as a door to China. Beyond the update of its AI bot, we know that Baidu is not standing idly by and, as we can read in Reuters, the Chinese company would be working with companies like Apple to be able to launch its products in Chinese territory. In this case, a version of Apple Intelligence.
This is curious if we take into account the opinion of the iPhones that the country’s administration has and it is clear that it will not be a bed of roses. For now, Baidu and Apple have a conflict, since the North American company’s privacy policies prevent Baidu from managing the data of iPhone users. And Baidu wants, precisely, to save and analyze that data, according to a report by The Information.
We’ll see what happens, but China, with its huge user base and particular focus on AI, is a market that is as attractive as it is challenging. Companies like Baidu are advancing rapidly, while Western giants try to find a way not to be left out of the technological pie.
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In WorldOfSoftware | China was lagging behind in AI, but it continues to launch increasingly advanced models. And very socialist
