Chinese authorities have granted approval for over 40 artificial intelligence (AI) models for public use within the initial six months of the regulatory approval process, Chinese media reported.
The Chinese state-backed Securities Times reported that the regulators granted approvals to a total of 14 large language models (LLM) for public use last week, which marks the fourth batch of approvals China has granted, which includes Xiaomi Corp 4Paradigm and 01.AI among the recipients.
Beijing started requiring tech companies to obtain approval from regulators to open their LLMs to the public last August.
It underscored China’s approach towards developing AI technology while striving to keep it under its purview and control.
Beijing approved its first batch of AI models in August shortly after the approval process was adopted.
Baidu, Alibaba and ByteDance were among China’s first companies to receive approvals.
Chinese regulators then granted two more batches of approvals in November and December before another batch was given the greenlight this month. While the government has not disclosed the exact list of approved companies available for public checks, Securities Times said on Sunday more than 40 AI models have been approved.
Chinese companies have been rushing to develop AI products ever since OpenAI’s chatbot ChatGPT took the world by storm in 2022.
Back then, China possessed 130 large language models (LLMs), constituting 40% of the global total and closely trailing the United States’ 50% share, as reported by brokerage CLSA.
Baidu’s Ernie Bot, one of China’s most prominent ChatGPT-like chatbots, has achieved remarkable success, amassing over 100 million users as confirmed by the company’s CTO in December. This impressive milestone underscores Ernie Bot’s widespread adoption and popularity among users across China.