Chinese firms working on ChatGPT-style technology

The global buzz around Microsoft-backed OpenAI’s ChatGPT has spread to China, shoring up stocks in artificial intelligence (AI) related firms and prompting a flurry of local companies to announce rival projects.

Like Microsoft and Google, Chinese tech giants such as Baidu and Alibaba as well as smaller start-ups have been working on AI projects for years.

Chatbots in China mostly focus on social interactions whereas ChatGPT, which learns from vast amounts of data how to answer prompts by users in a human-like manner, performs better at more professional tasks, such as programming and essay writing.