How does China’s AI stack up against ChatGPT?
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) models have been in the spotlight for everyone from investors to educators since the first large language model conversational bot, ChatGPT, burst on the global scene in November 2022. Now Chinese IT giants including Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent have all released their own generative AI tools. So how do they stack up against OpenAI’s ChatGPT?
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00:00 - Chat GPT. - Chat GPT.
00:02 - Political bias on chat GPT.
00:03 - Chat GPT can now see, hear and speak.
00:06 - The latest hype in the IT industry
00:09 has focused on generative AI tools like chat GPT.
00:13 The generative artificial intelligence models
00:16 are being used by students to write papers,
00:19 programmers to write computer code,
00:21 companies to handle customer service
00:24 and many other people just for casual chats.
00:27 Most of these tools are from the United States,
00:30 including chat GPT, which was introduced
00:32 by American company OpenAI in November, 2022.
00:37 Against the backdrop of the current US-China tech war,
00:40 it's not surprising that Chinese companies
00:43 are developing their own generative AI tools.
00:45 Among those trying to get in on the act
00:48 are tech giants Baidu, Tencent and Alibaba,
00:52 which owns the South China Morning Post.
00:56 Today, I'm going to try one of them, Baidu's Ernie,
00:59 to see how it stacks up against chat GPT.
01:02 The first task I'm assigning the boss to write
01:04 is a summary on the annexation
01:07 of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014,
01:10 which is part of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
01:14 At first glance, both AI models seem to provide
01:18 quite a thorough summary of the Ukraine war events,
01:22 but Ernie's answers are a bit rough around the edges.
01:26 His summary still has a bit of Chinese text left in it.
01:30 But what does a political scientist think
01:33 about the competing AI results?
01:35 - There's just subtle differences.
01:37 Well, really one in particular that I'd say borders
01:41 on not factually correct.
01:43 This is the Baidu version on the first paragraph
01:45 where it talks about a purported violation
01:47 of Ukrainian sovereignty.
01:49 This is a pretty near consensus other than Russia
01:51 and a handful of allies that this is a violation
01:54 of Ukrainian sovereignty
01:55 and a violation of international law.
01:57 Even China, as I understand it,
01:59 has stayed pretty neutral on this question.
02:01 It's not a huge exaggeration to kind of say
02:03 that the Baidu one really sounds to me
02:05 like somebody who's read a bunch of the Chinese press.
02:08 The chat GPT sounds much more like someone
02:10 who's read a bunch more of the Western press.
02:12 - And you have to tiptoe around some questions
02:14 when using Ernie.
02:16 When I typed, "Why did Russia invade Ukraine?"
02:19 the app wouldn't give me an answer.
02:21 Aside from controversial topics,
02:23 the two AI models also vary quite a bit
02:26 when it comes to functionalities.
02:28 Baidu's Ernie is capable of generating images
02:31 and text responses, something that chat GPT cannot do.
02:35 Now, let me take a photo of this toilet paper roll
02:38 to see what we get.
02:39 I have the painting right here.
02:43 You can see there's some sort of abstract-looking
02:48 toilet paper roll, a very distorted keyboard,
02:53 and a monitor.
02:54 Whether you like it or not,
02:57 this is Ernie's interpretation
03:01 of an impressionist toilet paper roll.
03:04 It also features a discovery function,
03:10 which lets you see how other people are using the app.
03:13 And there is some sort of a tutorial function.
03:16 Say, if I want to create a PowerPoint presentation,
03:19 I can click on this tab, and there are a lot of options.
03:23 On the surface, chat GPT is only capable
03:26 of handling text in queries,
03:28 but the AI model is capable of integrating itself
03:31 into different applications and services.
03:34 So I can use it when writing simple code in Python,
03:37 or use it when I'm working on spreadsheets.
03:40 All in all, I think the different social environments
03:42 in China and the West have given rise
03:44 to two distinctive AI models.
03:47 So which one is better?
03:48 Well, Ernie's an app that I can play around with casually,
03:52 even if I don't have a specific purpose
03:55 and just want to kill time.
03:57 On the other hand,
03:58 while chat GPT seems quite limited at first,
04:02 if the user are more computer literate,
04:04 it can be a very powerful tool for many tasks.
04:07 They also have an important thing in common.
04:10 Both AI models are constantly learning and evolving.
04:14 Quite interesting to think about 10 years from now,
04:17 when we have competing national versions of AI,
04:19 potentially between, say, US-funded or created,
04:22 and Chinese-funded, created,
04:24 how both could be feeding into this feedback loop
04:29 of how not only people,
04:30 but further AI learns about these types of things.
04:33 And this is just the beginning of the AI race.
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