BIDU
Numerous Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) firms are moving rapidly to attract users of OpenAI's technology amid discussions that the American company is considering API restrictions in China and other regions. This development has not gone unnoticed by Chinese tech companies keen to scoop up the potential market void.
An article from the Chinese state-owned Securities Times on Tuesday indicated that OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, plans to cut off access for several regions, including mainland China. While ChatGPT is not officially available in mainland China, numerous Chinese startups have ingeniously leveraged OpenAI’s API platform to build their applications.
An OpenAI representative commented to Reuters saying, “We are taking additional steps to block API traffic from regions where we do not support access to OpenAI's services.” Indeed, since late Monday, Chinese users have been receiving notifications that they are in regions "OpenAI does not currently support," with a deadline of July 9 for the implementation of these new restrictions.
In response to this news, Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU), a giant in China's AI landscape, announced it would initiate an “inclusive program” that offers free migration for new users to its own Ernie platform. The company extended free tokens and migration assistance for users of OpenAI’s API via its own AI platform. As the landscape evolves, these firms are clearly positioning themselves to capitalize on any disruptions caused by OpenAI’s anticipated API restrictions, ensuring that Chinese developers have ample resources and incentives to keep their AI advancements moving forward.
