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☆ Baidu Scrambles to Ready China’s First ChatGPT Equivalent Ahead of Launch
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Raffaele Huang | Karen Hao | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Baidu plans to roll out Ernie Bot in stages, first opening it up for public testing to a restricted pool of users. A week away from the March 16 launch of Baidu Inc.’s ChatGPT equivalent, employees at China’s biggest search-engine operator said they are racing to meet the deadline with the chatbot still struggling to perform some basic functions. To develop the artificial-intelligence-powered chatbot, dubbed Ernie Bot, hundreds of people have been working around the clock, people familiar with the project said. Other teams have been asked to lend their staff and their powerful computer chips, which Chinese companies can no longer buy because of U.S. sanctions, they said.

☆ ChatGPT Fever Sweeps China as Tech Firms Seek Growth
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Karen Hao | Shen Lu | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The viral popularity of ChatGPT has stirred a frenzy within China where tech companies, battered by a two-year regulatory clampdown and the Covid-19 pandemic, have been seeking new sources of growth. Search engine owner Baidu Inc., e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and social-media conglomerate Tencent Holdings Ltd. are among those that have announced investments to develop their own equivalents to the artificial-intelligence chatbot, which isn’t available in China. Stocks of other Chinese companies have surged in recent weeks as they have jumped on the bandwagon, triggering state media to issue a warning about the speculative rally.

Shortly after the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in November, Jeff Maggioncalda , the CEO of online education company Coursera Inc., jumped into the technology to see if it could save him time. He began using the chatbot to draft company letters and notes, and asked his executive assistant to try the same for drafting replies to his inbound emails. She prompts ChatGPT based on how she thinks he would respond, and he edits the answers it generates before sending.

☆ What Is ChatGPT? What to Know About the AI Chatbot That Will Power Microsoft Bing
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Karen Hao | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Within weeks of its launch, OpenAI ‘s ChatGPT triggered a new global race in artificial intelligence. The chatbot is part of a fresh wave of so-called generative AI—sophisticated systems that produce content from text to images—that is set to be one of the most disruptive forces in a decade to Big Tech, industries and the future of work. Microsoft Corp. has added the technology to its products, including search engine Bing, while competitors Google and Baidu are pushing to launch similar tools. Despite its sudden burst in popularity, the technology currently has serious limitations and potential risks that include spewing misinformation and infringing on intellectual property.

☆ Baidu Developing Its Own ChatGPT, Aiming to Integrate It Into Search
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Karen Hao | Raffaele Huang | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Baidu CEO Robin Li, here in 2019, told employees in late December that the great challenge is turning the company’s ‘cool technology’ into products that everyone needs. China’s Baidu Inc. has thrust itself into a global race to commercialize the next-generation of artificial-intelligence technologies like ChatGPT that could bring major transformations to the internet. The company is developing an AI-powered chatbot similar to OpenAI ‘s popular ChatGPT and plans to integrate it into its main search engine in March, people familiar with the matter said.

☆ Baidu Is Developing Its Own ChatGPT, Aiming to Integrate It Into Search
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Karen Hao | Raffaele Huang | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Baidu CEO Robin Li, here in 2019, told employees in late December that the great challenge is turning the company’s ‘cool technology’ into products that everyone needs. China’s Baidu Inc. is developing an artificial-intelligence-powered chatbot similar to OpenAI’s popular ChatGPT and plans to integrate it into its main search engine in March, people familiar with the matter said. The search giant also plans to build an independent website for users to access the tool, some of the people said.

☆ China Visa Offices Overwhelmed in Wake of Border Opening
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Karen Hao | Wenxin Fan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

HONG KONG—China has opened its doors to the world after three years of zero-Covid controls—at least in theory. In practice, many travelers eager or desperate to visit the country are struggling to acquire the key that will gain them entry. Processing times for visas to enter China have multiplied as the Chinese Embassy in Washington and consulates across the U.S. struggle to keep up with a wave of applications. Many visa offices are closed entirely, leaving would-be visitors to contend unassisted with an online application system that travel agencies say is prone to crashing.

☆ WHO Recognizes China’s Accounting of 60,000 Covid Deaths
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( Karen Hao | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The WHO has been urging China to be more forthcoming about the coronavirus outbreak now sweeping the country. HONG KONG—The World Health Organization expressed appreciation for China’s sharing of Covid-19 data after Beijing reported around 60,000 Covid-related deaths over the past month, providing the first major accounting of the death toll since the country lifted pandemic restrictions. In recent weeks, the WHO had urged China to be more forthcoming about the outbreak now sweeping the country. Public-health specialists—including some at the WHO—had criticized China’s reporting for severely underrepresenting the toll of the latest outbreak.

CHONGQING, China—A month after scrapping most of its zero-Covid restrictions, China is experiencing all at once what many other nations have been navigating for three years. Infections have skyrocketed, medical facilities are stretched to their limits and the elderly and infirm are dying, although official government numbers are seen by public-health experts as vastly underestimating Covid-related deaths.

☆ China, a Pioneer in Regulating Algorithms, Turns Its Focus to Deepfakes
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Karen Hao | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Cyberspace Administration of China will begin enforcing new regulations on deepfakes starting this week. HONG KONG—China is implementing new rules to restrict the production of ‘deepfakes,’ media generated or edited by artificial-intelligence software that can make people appear to say and do things they never did. Beijing’s internet regulator, the Cyberspace Administration of China, will begin enforcing the regulation—on what it calls “deep synthesis” technology, including AI-powered image, audio and text-generation software—starting Tuesday, marking the world’s first comprehensive attempt by a major regulatory agency to curb one of the most explosive and controversial areas of AI advancement.

Liza LinLiza Lin covers Asia technology news for The Wall Street Journal from Singapore, focusing mostly on China, the internet, supply chains and surveillance. In 2021, Liza was part of a team at the Journal that was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in International Reporting, for their coverage of Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Liza, alongside other Journal reporters, won the Gerald Loeb Award for International Reporting in 2018 for a series of stories on China's surveillance state. Liza is the co-author with Journal colleague Josh Chin of the book "Surveillance State: Inside China’s Quest to Launch a New Era of Social Control." A Fulbright scholar, she has also worked for Bloomberg News in Singapore and China.

Persons: Liza Lin Liza Lin, Liza, Xi Jinping, Gerald Loeb, Josh Chin Organizations: Wall, New York Press Club, Society of Publishers, Social Control, Bloomberg News Locations: Asia, Singapore, China, Shanghai

☆ How AI That Powers Chatbots and Search Queries Could Discover New Drugs
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Karen Hao | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

In their search for new disease-fighting medicines, drug makers have long employed a laborious trial-and-error process to identify the right compounds. But what if artificial intelligence could predict the makeup of a new drug molecule the way Google figures out what you’re searching for, or email programs anticipate your replies—like “Got it, thanks”? That’s the aim of a new approach that uses an AI technique known as natural language processing—the same technology that enables OpenAI’s ChatGPT to generate human-like responses—to analyze and synthesize proteins, which are the building blocks of life and of many drugs. The approach exploits the fact that biological codes have something in common with search queries and email texts: Both are represented by a series of letters.

☆ Chinese Startups Try to Make It Big in the U.S.—but Without the Backlash
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Karen Hao | Shen Lu | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/chinese-startups-try-to-make-it-big-in-the-u-s-but-without-the-backlash-11669706136

☆ New Symbol of Protest in China Roils Censors: Blank White Papers
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Liza Lin | Karen Hao | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-symbol-of-protest-in-china-roils-censors-blank-white-papers-11669642676

☆ China’s Xi Stacks Government With Science and Tech Experts Amid Rivalry With U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Karen Hao | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

HONG KONG—Chinese leader Xi Jinping has packed the top ranks of the Communist Party with a new generation of leaders who have experience in aerospace, artificial intelligence and other strategically important areas, as Beijing seeks to become a science and technology superpower that rivals the U.S. The roster of officials with backgrounds in science and technology on the party’s 205-member Central Committee has rebounded to roughly the length it had during former leader Jiang Zemin ’s first five-year term, beginning in 1992, when he kicked off a rapid acceleration of scientific research and innovation. The increase comes as Washington takes steps both to contain China’s tech sector and boost U.S. innovation.

Nvidia’s new chip is a response to the Biden administration’s new rules restricting exports of American chip technology to China. HONG KONG— Nvidia Corp. has begun offering an alternative to a high-end chip hit with U.S. export restrictions to customers in China, after the new rules threatened to cost the American company hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue. Nvidia said the new graphics-processing chip, branded the A800, meets U.S. restrictions on chips that can be exported to China under new rules rolled out last month. The chip went into production in the third quarter, the company said.

☆ China Docks Final Module to Space Station
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Karen Hao | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

HONG KONG—China has successfully docked the final module to its space station, marking a milestone in Beijing’s long-coveted ambition of becoming a world-leading space power. The 23-ton module, dubbed Mengtian, or “Dreaming of the Heavens,” lifted off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on China’s southern island province of Hainan on Monday, according to China’s National Space Administration. It docked 13 hours later to the first two modules—the core module, Tianhe (“Harmony of the Heavens”), and the first research module, Wentian (“Quest for the Heavens”).

☆ Two Entrepreneurs Lived Through China’s Tumultuous Tech Decade. Only One is Staying.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Shen Lu | Karen Hao | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Two Chinese entrepreneurs, Derek Li and Rick Chang , separately jumped into the country’s tech boom nearly a decade ago, in the early days of Xi Jinping ’s rule. China’s mobile-technology market was exploding, fueled by generous government subsidies and a light touch from regulators. Their respective businesses benefited greatly from the dynamism in China’s tech sector, underpinned by Mr. Xi’s push for innovation and entrepreneurship.

☆ Two Men Rode a Decadelong Tech Wave in China—Only One Is Staying
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Shen Lu | Karen Hao | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ Two Entrepreneurs Lived Through China’s Tumultuous Tech Decade. Only One Is Staying.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Shen Lu | Karen Hao | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ How U.S. Uses Supply Chain Sway to Throttle China’s Chip Development
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-23 | by ( Karen Hao | Jemal R. Brinson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The new U.S. restrictions on exports of chips and related items to China leverage American dominance in critical areas of the global semiconductor supply chain and aim to strangle China’s advanced-chip development. The semiconductor industry has long been marked by a highly integrated global supply chain. Over the years, its steep research and development costs and intensive capital expenditures have driven different countries to specialize in different steps of the chip-making process.

☆ China’s Xi Jinping Urges Self-Reliance in Tech Amid Rivalry With U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Karen Hao | Sha Hua | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

HONG KONG—Chinese leader Xi Jinping doubled down on the need to increase China’s self-sufficiency in technology and supply chains during a Communist Party meeting, as the country faces a growing economic and technological rivalry with the U.S. In a report delivered to the 20th National Congress of China’s Communist Party on Sunday, Mr. Xi warned of China’s lingering inadequacies in its scientific and technological innovation as well as its vulnerabilities in supply chains among the core challenges facing the country.

☆ American Executives in Limbo at Chinese Chip Companies After U.S. Ban
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-16 | by ( Liza Lin | Karen Hao | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

SINGAPORE—American workers hold key positions throughout China’s domestic chip industry, helping manufacturers develop new chips to catch up with foreign rivals. Now, those workers are in limbo under new U.S. export control rules that prohibit U.S. citizens from supporting China’s advanced chip development. At least 43 senior executives working with 16 publicly listed Chinese semiconductor companies are American citizens, according to an examination of company filings and official websites by The Wall Street Journal. Many of them hold C-suite titles, from chief executive to vice president and chairman.

☆ U.S.-China Tensions Fuel Outflow of Chinese Scientists From U.S. Universities
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-22 | by ( Sha Hua | Karen Hao | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Among the Chinese and Chinese-American scientists who have recently left the U.S. are widely cited names from MIT, as well as Harvard and the University of Chicago. HONG KONG—An increasing number of scientists and engineers of Chinese descent are giving up tenured positions at top-tier American universities to leave for China or elsewhere, in a sign of the U.S.’s fading appeal for a group that has been a driver of innovation. The trend, driven in part by what many of the scholars describe as an increasingly hostile political and racial environment, has caused the Biden administration to work with scholars of Chinese descent to address concerns.

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