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☆ China's Alibaba launches over 100 new open-source AI models, releases text-to-video generation tool
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-19 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The newly-released models, known as Qwen 2.5, are designed for use in applications and sectors ranging from automobiles to gaming and science research, Alibaba said. AI models are trained on huge amounts of data. By open sourcing the models, Alibaba hopes more users will use its AI. Alibaba also launched a new text-to-video tool based on its AI models. "Alibaba Cloud is investing, with unprecedented intensity, in the research and development of AI technology and the building of its global infrastructure," Eddie Wu, CEO of Alibaba, said in a statement.

Persons: Alibaba, Max, Sora, Eddie Wu Organizations: Baidu, Huawei, titans, Microsoft, Max Locations: Nanjing, Jiangsu province, China, Hangzhou

☆ China wants to challenge the U.S. in AI — here's what Chinese giants are doing with the tech
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-12 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Generative AI includes applications like OpenAI's ChatGPT, which has the ability to generate text, images and even video based on user prompts. These applications are powered by large AI models which are trained on huge amounts of data, such as Google's Gemini. Chinese technology firms have had to tread carefully in releasing their technology as Beijing has strict requirements for AI models and their uses. CNBC runs through the big Chinese AI models developed by the country's biggest tech firms. It has created a number of AI models aimed at customers in specific industries including government, finance, manufacturing, mining, and meteorology.

Persons: catchup, ERNIE Baidu, Ernie Bot, OpenAI's, Baidu, Ernie, Alibaba, Qianwen, Tencent, Hunyuan, Doubao Organizations: Istock, Getty, U.S, CNBC, Baidu, Huawei, Pangu Huawei Locations: China, Alibaba, U.S . China, Beijing

☆ Alibaba rolls out latest version of its large language model to meet robust AI demand
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-09 | by ( Sheila Chiang | In Sheilachiang | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The logo of the Alibaba office building is seen in the Huangpu District in Shanghai, June 16, 2023. Alibaba Cloud said on Thursday it released the latest version of its large language model after more than 90,000 deployments by companies. Alibaba Cloud said the latest version of its Tongyi Qianwen model, Qwen2.5, possesses "remarkable advancements in reasoning, code comprehension, and textual understanding compared to its predecessor Qwen2.0." Large language models power artificial intelligence applications like OpenAI's ChatGPT. The latest Qwen model fares better than OpenAI's GPT-4 model in language and creation capabilities, but fell short in other categories like knowledge, reasoning and math, according to a March analysis by large language model evaluation platform OpenCompass.

Persons: Alibaba Cloud, Zhou, Alibaba, OpenAI's Locations: Huangpu District, Shanghai

☆ Jack Ma is praising Alibaba. Wall Street is more cautious
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-14 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Alibaba shares got a boost last week from news founder Jack Ma is pleased with the company's turnaround so far. They cut their price target to $100 a share, down from $105 previously, while maintaining an overweight rating. Eddie Wu became CEO of Alibaba in September, and is also acting head of the cloud business. They cut their price target by $1 to $105 a share and maintained their buy rating. They have a price target of $85, and, in contrast to the many buy ratings, rate the stock equal weight.

Persons: Jack Ma, Joe Tsai, Ma, Alex Yao, Tsai, Nicolai Tangen, We've, Eddie Wu, Trudy Dai, Daniel Zhang, Kenneth Fong, Douyin, Nomura, Doubao, Ernie, Qianwen, monetization, Morgan Stanley, Gary Yu, — CNBC's Michael Bloom, Arjun Kharpal Organizations: CNBC, Wall Street, JPMorgan, Norges Bank Investment, Alibaba, Commerce, UBS, PDD Holdings, Norges Bank Investment Management Locations: China, U.S, Taobao, BABA

☆ Chinese tech giant Alibaba launches upgraded AI model to challenge Microsoft, Amazon
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-31 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Alibaba called Tongyi Qianwen 2.0 a "substantial upgrade from its predecessor," which was introduced in April . China's biggest cloud computing and e-commerce player announced Tongyi Qianwen 2.0, its latest large language model (LLM). A LLM is trained on vast amounts of data and forms the basis for generative AI applications such as ChatGPT, which is developed by U.S. firm OpenAI. Tongyi Qianwen 2.0 "demonstrates remarkable capabilities in understanding complex instructions, copywriting, reasoning, memorizing, and preventing hallucinations," Alibaba said in a press release. The Hangzhou-headquartered company also announced the GenAI Service Platform, which lets companies build their own generative AI applications, using their own data.

Persons: Alibaba, Tongyi Organizations: Artificial Intelligence, U.S, Tuesday, Microsoft, OpenAI, Amazon Locations: Shanghai, Hangzhou, China

☆ Alibaba upgrades AI model Tongyi Qianwen, releases industry-specific models
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-31 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Alibaba Cloud logo is displayed near a screen showing the website of its Tongyi Qianwen AI chatbot, in this illustration picture taken June 28, 2023. REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsHONG KONG, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Chinese technology giant Alibaba (9988.HK) said on Tuesday it has updated its artificial intelligence (AI) model Tongyi Qianwen and released a suite of industry-specific AI models amid an intensifying AI race among tech companies. It also said it has launched eight AI models for the entertainment, finance, healthcare and legal industries. The GPT-3 AI model from Microsoft-backed (MSFT.O) OpenAI contained 175 billion parameters in 2020 and Meta Platform's (META.O) Llama 2 model had 70 billion parameters in 2023. At the conference, Chairman Joe Tsai also said about half of large-language AI models in the China now run on Alibaba Cloud.

Persons: Florence Lo, Tencent, OpenAI, Joe Tsai, Josh Ye, Brenda Goh, Jacqueline Wong, Christopher Cushing Organizations: REUTERS, HK, Microsoft, Meta, Thomson Locations: HONG KONG, Hangzhou, China

☆ China's AI applications are coming — where it matters for monetization
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-17 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Around the same time, Tencent announced it is integrating its AI model into advertising content creation, and its own Zoom-like video conferencing app. It's also not clear how powerful China's AI applications currently are, beyond demos and select business partnerships. "Overall we see generally Chinese language model[s] still lag behind the most advanced ChatGPT version 4," CLSA's Tony Zhang said in a phone interview in the last week. Now with Beijing's green light, public-facing AI applications such as Baidu's Ernie bot can be widely used in China. Generative AI and large language model-related revenue contributed to 20% of SenseTime' s revenue in the first half of 2023, Nomura analysts said, citing company management.

Persons: Nomura, Tencent, Coffee, Luckin, Joey Wat, It's, Tony Zhang, –, Ernie, Oliver Wyman's David Xie Organizations: Baidu, KFC Locations: Beijing, China, Taobao, TikTok

Alibaba Group sign is seen at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, China July 6, 2023. REUTERS/Aly Song Acquire Licensing RightsSHANGHAI, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Alibaba said on Wednesday it would open its artificial intelligence model Tongyi Qianwen to the public, in a sign it has gained Chinese regulatory approval to mass-market the model. He was replaced by newly installed Alibaba Group CEO, Eddie Wu. In an internal letter to Alibaba staff on Tuesday, Wu said that AI would be at the centre of Alibaba Group's future strategy. Alibaba first unveiled Tongyi Qianwen in April, saying at the time that the AI large language model, which is similar to ChatGPT, would be integrated into all business applications.

Persons: Aly, Alibaba, Daniel Zhang, Eddie Wu, Wu, Tongyi Qianwen, Casey Hall, Tom Hogue Organizations: Artificial Intelligence, REUTERS, Rights, Cloud Intelligence Division, Zhejiang University, Thomson Locations: Shanghai, China, United States, DingTalk, Alibaba

A man walks past a logo of Alibaba Group at its office building in Beijing, China August 9, 2021. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang Acquire Licensing RightsSHANGHAI, Sept 12 (Reuters) - New Alibaba Group CEO Eddie Wu has told staff the tech giant's two main strategic focuses going forward will be "user first" and "AI-driven", according to an internal letter reviewed by Reuters. The new CEO, one of Alibaba Group's founders and long-time lieutenant of former chief Jack Ma, is laying out his strategic priorities at a key moment for Alibaba, which is undergoing the biggest organisational restructure of its 24-year history. Late on Sunday Alibaba also announced that Wu would concurrently serve as CEO of its cloud computing unit, replacing Daniel Zhang. The cloud unit is Alibaba's second-biggest revenue source after domestic e-commerce and houses the group's generative artificial intelligence model, Tongyi Qianwen.

Persons: Tingshu Wang, Eddie Wu, Wu, Alibaba, Jack Ma, Daniel Zhang, Zhang, ByteDance's Douyin, Casey Hall, Gerry Doyle, Stephen Coates Organizations: Alibaba Group, REUTERS, Rights, Alibaba, Reuters, Cloud Intelligence Group, PDD Holdings, Huawei Technologies, Tencent Holdings, HK, Baidu, Thomson Locations: Beijing, China

☆ South Korea's Naver launches generative AI services to compete with ChatGPT
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-24 | by ( Sheila Chiang | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

South Korean internet giant Naver released its own generative artificial intelligence tool on Thursday, joining other companies in launching large language models to compete with OpenAI's ChatGPT. Naver is dubbed the Google of South Korea, as the operator of the country's top search engine. The company said its large language model HyperClova X can improve search as well as marketing and shopping experiences for advertisers and users. HyperClova X powers a slate of new applications Naver announced Thursday including generative AI search service Cue: and chat app Clova X.Naver said Clova X can increase work productivity by summarizing documents and running language translation. Naver said Clova X will start beta testing Thursday.

Persons: OpenAI's, Naver, Clova, Kim Yuwon, ChatGPT, —, Bard, Tongyi, Ernie Bot, Kim Organizations: CNBC Locations: South Korea

☆ Chinese tech giant Alibaba challenges Meta with open-sourced A.I. model launch
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-03 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

In April, Alibaba launched its large language model (LLM) called Tongyi Qianwen. Tongyi Qianwen allows AI content generation in English and Chinese and has different model sizes, including seven billion parameters and above. While Alibaba might not earn licensing fees from open-sourcing its technology, the distribution will help the company get more users for its AI model. This comes at a time when China's biggest e-commerce company is looking to boost its cloud computing division through investments in AI, targeting cloud computing as a critical future area for profitability and growth. Offering a good LLM for AI apps development is a potential competitive advantage for cloud computing players.

Persons: Alibaba, Tongyi, Alibaba hasn't Organizations: Artificial Intelligence, U.S, Microsoft Locations: Shanghai, China, Alibaba, Hangzhou

☆ China's Alibaba unveils AI image generator to take on Midjourney and DALL-E
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-07 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

HONG KONG, July 7 (Reuters) - Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd (9988.HK) announced on Friday an artificial intelligence (AI) image generator, initially available to enterprise customers in beta form, as it ramps up its offerings in the fast-growing AI sector. The image generator, Tongyi Wanxiang, will compete with OpenAI's DALL-E and Midjourney Inc's Midjourney, U.S.-based rivals that have gained a large following worldwide. Alibaba Cloud, recently formed from a massive overhaul that split the Chinese tech major into six units, has also released a ChatGPT-like text generator, Tongyi Qianwen, which was launched in April. Baidu Inc (9888.HK) and SenseTime Group Inc <0020.HK > also recently unveiled AI image generators, although generative AI services have yet to receive regulatory approval for wide distribution in China. The Tongyi Wanxiang image generator, which roughly translates as "truth from tens of thousands of pictures", was revealed at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai on Friday.

Persons: Wanxiang, OpenAI's DALL, Inc's Midjourney, OpenAI's, chatbot, Josh Ye, Edmund Klamann Organizations: Alibaba Group Holdings, HK, McKinsey, Baidu Inc, SenseTime, Artificial Intelligence, Thomson Locations: HONG KONG, U.S, China, Shanghai

HONG KONG, July 7 (Reuters) - Alibaba Group Holdings (9988.HK) and Huawei Technologies Co on Friday showcased new products, including an artificial intelligence (AI) image generator and an AI model upgrade, as Chinese companies jostle for position in the global AI race. Alibaba Cloud, an Alibaba subsidiary, presented at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai an image generator named Tongyi Wanxiang that will initially be available to enterprise customers in beta form. Also on Friday, Huawei demonstrated the third iteration of its Panggu AI model at the start of its three-day annual developer conference in Dongguan. Alibaba's image generator will compete with OpenAI's DALL-E and Midjourney Inc's Midjourney, U.S.-based rivals that have gained a large following worldwide. Alibaba Cloud emerged from a massive overhaul announced in March that split the Chinese tech major into six units.

Persons: OpenAI, OpenAI's DALL, Inc's Midjourney, Alibaba, Josh Ye, Edmund Klamann, Barbara Lewis Organizations: Alibaba Group Holdings, HK, Huawei Technologies, Artificial Intelligence, Huawei, McKinsey, Alibaba, Thomson Locations: HONG KONG, Shanghai, Dongguan, U.S, Shenzhen

☆ Alibaba launches A.I. tool to generate images from text
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-07 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Alibaba Group sign is seen at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, China July 6, 2023. Chinese technology giant Alibaba on Friday launched an artificial intelligence tool that can generate images from prompts. Tongyi Wanxiang allows users to input prompts in Chinese and English and the AI tool will generate an image in various styles such as a sketch or 3D cartoon. Generative AI refers to a type of artificial intelligence that is able to generate content based on prompts. And in China, Baidu released Ernie Bot and Alibaba launched Tongyi Qianwen.

Persons: Tongyi, Baidu, Ernie Bot, Alibaba Organizations: Artificial Intelligence, Google Locations: Shanghai, China, U.S

☆ Alibaba begins rollout of its ChatGPT-style tech as China A.I. race heats up
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing subsidiary of Alibaba, unveiled its ChatGPT-style product Tongyi Qianwen during the 2023 Alibaba Cloud Summit on Tuesday morning. Alibaba on Thursday began rolling out its ChatGPT-style technology as Chinese tech giants look to take a lead in the country's artificial intelligence race. It has gone viral, sparking huge interest in the area of generative AI, the technology which underpins ChatGPT. Last month, Alibaba revealed Tongyi Qianwen, its large language model — a system that is trained on huge amounts of data in order to recognize and generate content. Alibaba's cloud computing division, which is leading the AI charge for the company, said Thursday that Tongyi Qianwen will be integrated into a digital assistant called Tingwu.

Persons: Alibaba, Tongyi Qianwen, Tongyi Tingwu Organizations: Alibaba, U.S

☆ China's internet giants bet big on A.I. as Beijing looks to rival U.S. on tech 'paradigm shift'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-23 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

"This kind of computing power needs to be provided as a kind of public service or infrastructure. China, specifically, "has some of the most advanced AI tech in the world," he added. "We believe this is a Game of Thrones also playing out in the China Tech market as the gloves are on for this battle," Ives said. Many innovative vendors are going after this market and China tech is now in the midst of a secular shift around AI." The comments from some of China's top tech companies last week hint at how Beijing is seeking to ramp up its rivalry with the U.S. on AI.

Persons: BABA BABA, Robin Li, Baidu, Ernie Bot, OpenAI's ChatGPT, Tencent, Martin Lau, Lau, Alibaba, Daniel Zhang, Dan Ives, Ives, Hao Hong, CNBC's, —, Tencent's Lau, Baidu's Li, Didi, Meituan Organizations: HK, Microsoft, Google, Wedbush Securities, CNBC, China Tech, Big Tech, Baidu, U.S, Nvidia, chipmaker Micron, Grow Investment Locations: China, Beijing, U.S, Alibaba

☆ Alibaba to cut 7% of workforce in its cloud unit as it pursues IPO for the division
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-23 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing subsidiary of Alibaba, unveiled its ChatGPT-style product Tongyi Qianwen during the 2023 Alibaba Cloud Summit on Tuesday morning. Alibaba is cutting 7% of the workforce in its cloud computing division as the unit gears up for an initial public offering. Last week, the company announced plans for a full spin-off of its cloud computing unit and said it intends for the division to become an independent publicly listed company. Alibaba's CEO Daniel Zhang has long-seen cloud computing as a key part of the e-commerce giant's future but it currently accounts for just 9% of the group's total revenue. TikTok owner ByteDance began moving its international operations off of Alibaba's cloud which continues to weigh on the company's cloud business.

Persons: Alibaba, Daniel Zhang, Zhang, ByteDance Organizations: Alibaba, CNBC, Synergy Research, Microsoft, Google Locations: China, Asia, Pacific

☆ Alibaba misses revenue estimate, approves cloud unit spinoff
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"We would love nothing more than to see one of these little Alibabas...becoming another big Alibaba, as big as the group company is right now," said Alibaba Group chairman Daniel Zhang on an earnings call. Alibaba logged revenue of 208.20 billion yuan ($30.12 billion) for the three months ended in March, compared with a Refinitiv consensus estimate of 210.3 billion yuan. Net income attributable to ordinary shareholders was 23.52 billion yuan for the quarter, reversing a year earlier loss of 16.24 billion yuan. Revenue for Alibaba's cloud division in the recent quarter was 18.6 billion yuan, down 2% year-on-year. The company has opened up registration to test the technology to enterprise customers of Alibaba Cloud.

☆ Alibaba plans to list cloud division as quarterly revenue misses expectations
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

In this article BABABABA Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNTAlibaba Cloud, the cloud computing subsidiary of Alibaba, unveiled its ChatGPT-style product Tongyi Qianwen during the 2023 Alibaba Cloud Summit on Tuesday morning. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesAlibaba announced plans to spin off its cloud division as a separate, publicly traded company, while the e-commerce titan's quarterly revenue missed expectations. In its Thursday report, Alibaba said it plans to spin off its cloud division as a newly listed company, subject to restructuring certain assets, liabilities and contracts, and regulatory approvals. Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, said Alibaba's cloud spin-off plan was a "no brainer strategic move that we believe adds to the sum of the parts valuation on BABA." "We believe this was a step in the right direction for the Alibaba story," Ives told CNBC in emailed comments Thursday.

☆ ChatGPT: Chinese police detain man for allegedly using it to spread rumors online
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Chris Lau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

According to a statement from police in the northwest province of Gansu, the suspect allegedly used ChatGPT to generate a bogus report about a train crash, which he then posted online for profit. ChatGPT, developed by Microsoft (MSFT)-backed OpenAI, is banned in China, though internet users can use virtual private networks (VPN) to access it. State broadcaster CGTN says it was the country’s first arrest of a person accused of using ChatGPT to fabricate and spread fake news. Formally known as deep synthesis, deep fake refers to highly realistic textual and visual content generated by artificial intelligence. The new legislation bars users from generating deep fake content on topics already prohibited by existing laws on China’s heavily censored internet.

☆ China's A.I. chatbots haven't yet reached the public like ChatGPT did
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Baidu CTO Wang Haifeng speaks at the unveiling of Baidus AI chatbot Ernie Bot at an event in Beijing on March 16, 2023. Those restrictions haven't stopped the Chinese press and social media in general from talking frequently about ChatGPT and AI tech. So far, publicly available figures indicate similar AI products in China are not as widely available. Kunlun claims Tiangong is the only chatbot in China with training metrics at the level of ChatGPT. Some in the industry also expect such AI tools will be easier to commercialize for business products than for public tools such as search.

☆ Can China's ChatGPT clones give it an edge over the U.S. in an A.I. arms race?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence chatbot developed by U.S. firm OpenAI, has caused excitement around the world. Now Chinese technology giants are rolling out their rivals to ChatGPT. Chinese chatbots are expected to look very different from their Western counterparts. While ChatGPT can answer questions on sensitive topics, Chinese chatbots reportedly shut down some questions. So what exactly will China's rivals to ChatGPT look like, and how will they develop going forward?

☆ Alibaba shares tumble after SoftBank reportedly sells most of its stake
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Jonathan Vanian | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing subsidiary of Alibaba, unveiled its ChatGPT-style product Tongyi Qianwen during the 2023 Alibaba Cloud Summit on Tuesday morning. Alibaba shares dropped nearly 3% in after-hours trading after regulatory files revealed that SoftBank has sold a majority of its stake in the company. SoftBank has sold roughly $7.2 billion worth of shares in the Chinese ecommerce giant via prepaid forward contracts, according to an analysis of the corporate filings by The Financial Times, published on Wednesday. Because of the sales, the report noted that SoftBank will now only maintain a 3.8% stake in Alibaba, which has a market cap over nearly $250 billion. It was only about three years ago that SoftBank maintained a nearly 25% stake in the tech giant worth over $100 billion.

☆ Alibaba shows off its generative AI tech, to roll out in all apps
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Josh Horwitz | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Called Tongyi Qianwen, the AI large language model drafted invitation letters, planned trip itineraries and advised shoppers on types of makeup to purchase in a filmed demonstration. Tongyi Qianwen will initially be integrated into DingTalk, Alibaba's workplace messaging app and can be used to summarise meeting notes, write emails and draft business proposals. AI models like Tongyi Qianwen are "the big picture for making AI more popular in the future," he added. On Monday, Chinese AI company SenseTime (0200.HK) unveiled a slew of new AI products including a chatbot called SenseChat. Zhang said that Alibaba and other companies working on AI models were at the "starting line" of a new phenomenon.

☆ Alibaba unveils Tongyi Qianwen, an AI model similar to GPT
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Josh Horwitz | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] The logo of Alibaba Group is seen at its office in Beijing, China, January 5, 2021. REUTERS/Thomas PeterSHANGHAI, April 11 (Reuters) - Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (9988.HK) on Tuesday unveiled Tongyi Qianwen, an AI large language model similar to GPT that it plans to integrate into all of the company's business applications in the near future. Alibaba Cloud plans to open Tongyi Qianwen to its clients so they can build their own customized large language models. Others including Alphabet Inc's Google (GOOGL.O) and Baidu Inc (9888.HK) have since promoted their AI models and released similar chatbots. Tongyi Qianwen is based on Tongyi, Alibaba's proprietary pre-trained model framework that unifies various AI models.

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