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☆ Apple enforces new check on apps in China as Beijing tightens oversight
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-03 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

People line up while waiting at an Apple Store as Apple's new iPhone 15 officially goes on sale across China, in Shanghai, China September 22, 2023. Apple began last Friday requiring app developers to submit the "internet content provider (ICP) filing" when they publish new apps on its App Store, it said on its website for developers. Chinese regulators last week released names of the first batch of mobile app stores that have completed app filings, but Apple's App Store was not among those on the list. In a post on X, Jinyu Meng, an independent developer, said, "If my apps can't be launched in China without app filing, I will take down my apps [there]." Under the new rule, apps without proper filings will be punished after the grace period that will end in March next year, while newly developed apps need to comply with the rule from September.

Persons: Aly, Apple, Rich Bishop, AppInChina, Jinyu Meng, Josh Ye, Miyoung Kim, Jamie Freed Organizations: Apple, REUTERS, Tencent, HK, Huawei, Twitter, COVID, Reuters, Thomson Locations: China, Shanghai, HONG KONG, U.S, Americas, Europe, Beijing

☆ SenseTime's former IP rights employee under investigation
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-28 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Hong Kong, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Chinese tech company SenseTime (0020.HK) said on Thursday a former employee of its intellectual property division is now under police investigation. Without elaborating on details, a SenseTime spokesperson told Reuters via messaging app WeChat, "a former employee of [the] intellectual property division is currently under investigation by the Public Security Bureau due to suspected commercial related case." The state-backed Shanghai Securities News said the suspect is a former executive director of intellectual property rights. The report added that the suspect is now subject to "mandatory measures" due to economic problems but it did not specify which economic problems are under investigation. Reporting by Josh Ye in Hong Kong, Ella Cao in Beijing and Meg Shen in Hong Kong.

Persons: SenseTime, Josh Ye, Ella Cao, Meg Shen, Jane Merriman, Ros Russell Organizations: HK, Public Security, Shanghai Securities News, Thomson Locations: Hong Kong, Beijing

The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said it was considering waiving data export security assessments for activities such as international trade, academic cooperation, cross-border manufacturing and marketing that do not contain personal information or important data. Alex Roberts, a Shanghai-based lawyer at Linklaters, said the new rules are "a great signal for foreign investment and trade into China". You Yunting, a lawyer with Shanghai-based DeBund Law Offices, said the new rules "represents a certain degree of relaxation in data export regulation" in China. He added that the new rules could keep the cross-border transfer of human resources data low for companies. The previous rules were causing consternation among international businesses in China as some fear they could be cut off from assessing their human resources data from within China.

Persons: Alex Roberts, Brenda Goh, Josh Ye, Christina Fincher, Alison Williams Organizations: Cyberspace Administration of China, European, Reuters, Thomson Locations: SHANGHAI, HONG KONG, China, Shanghai, Linklaters, Hong Kong

☆ China enforces new filing rules on smartphone app stores
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

HONG KONG, Sept 27 (Reuters) - China's cyberspace regulator on Wednesday released the first batch of mobile app stores that have completed filing business details to regulators as it enforces a new set of rules to expand oversight on mobile apps. A total of 26 app stores operated by companies including Tencent (0700.HK), Huawei (HWT.UL), Ant Group(688688.SS), Baidu (9888.HK), Xiaomi (1810.HK) and Samsung (005930.KS) have submitted filings to the authority, according to the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC). Notably, Apple's App Store is not among the app stores on the list. This comes after the CAC issued a new rule last June requiring mobile app distribution platforms to submit business details to the government as it expands oversight on mobile apps in the country. Reporting by Josh Ye; Editing by Jacqueline WongOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Josh Ye, Jacqueline Wong Organizations: Wednesday, HK, Huawei, Ant, Baidu, Samsung, Cyberspace Administration of China, CAC, Thomson Locations: HONG KONG, KS

☆ China's AI 'war of a hundred models' heads for a shakeout
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-21 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Additionally, companies have also announced dozens of "industry-specific LLMs" that link to their core model. However, investors and analysts say that most were yet to find viable business models, were too similar to each other and were now grappling with surging costs. Several other big name entrepreneurs and tech executives are behind new Chinese AI startups, such as Google China's former chief Kai-Fu Lee and Yan Juejie, a former vice-president of SenseTime (0020.HK). Others said that China's largest tech companies Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu ultimately had the biggest headstart and deep pockets to succeed, given their large user bases and wide range of services. For instance, they could easily offer generative AI services as an additional plug-in to their cloud users.

Persons: Baidu's, Robin Li, Ernie Bot, Tingshu Wang, OpenAI's, Esme Pau, Pau, Yuan Hongwei, Meta, Baichuan, Wang Xiaochuan, China's, Wang, Yuan, Kai, Fu Lee, Yan Juejie, SenseTime, Tony Tung, Tung, Josh Ye, Brenda Goh, Sam Holmes Organizations: Baidu, REUTERS, HK, Huawei, Nvidia, China, Macquarie Group, Y, Baichuan Intelligence, Inc, Sogou, Google, Partners, Thomson Locations: Beijing, China, HONG KONG, Alibaba, United States, Washington, Shenzhen

☆ China's industry ministry to work on standards for the metaverse
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-18 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The ministry released a draft proposal to form a working group for the metaverse, shared virtual worlds accessible via the internet, on Monday. The proposal said that the metaverse is one of the nine emerging tech sectors which China should strive to establish standards for. "[The metaverse industry] faces many challenges," the MIIT said, "It is urgent to promote healthy and orderly development of the metaverse industry through standardization and guidance." It added that the metaverse industry suffers from a lack of clear definitions, which had allowed some capitalists and companies to drum up speculation in the market. Reporting by Josh Ye in Hong Kong and Beijing newsroom, Editing by Louise Heavens and Emelia Sithole-MatariseOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Refik Anadol, Tyrone Siu, Josh Ye, Louise Heavens, Emelia Organizations: Art, REUTERS, Tyrone, Rights, China's Ministry of Industry, Information Technology, Thomson Locations: Hong Kong, China, Rights BEIJING, Beijing

The unveiling of Apple's iPhone 15 attracted intense discussion online on Wednesday, as new models have done in the past. Topics discussing the new launch attracted 380 million views on social media platform Weibo, with more than 800,000 discussions, including posts, comments and likes, on the iPhone 15. A survey by Chinese news portal Sina on the social media platform asking participants if they would buy the Mate 60 or iPhone 15 saw 61,000 votes for the Huawei device versus 24,000 for the iPhone 15. "Before Huawei's surprise launch, we projected Apple's sales in China Q3 and Q4 to be flat or slightly weaker than last year." "Sales (of the iPhone 15) are not going to be easy, especially since Chinese consumers are either being cautious in spending or shifted their focus to leisure or travel," he added.

Persons: Thomas Peter, Archie Zhang, Will Wong, Yelin, Brenda Goh, Josh Ye, Jacqueline Wong Organizations: Apple, REUTERS, Rights, U.S, Huawei Technologies, Huawei, HK, Weibo, Sina, IDC, Thomson Locations: Beijing, China, Rights BEIJING, Alibaba's, U.S, Yelin Mo, Shanghai, Hong Kong

Alibaba Group sign is seen at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, China July 6, 2023. Zhang also handed over the role of group CEO to Wu on Sunday as scheduled. "Alibaba Cloud has lost some ground with government and state-owned enterprise clients, which were previously a stronghold for the company," Li said. "During his leadership tenure, Alibaba Cloud's business did not improve significantly despite his efforts. Zhang likely realised that the challenges facing Alibaba Cloud's lacklustre growth were beyond what he could influence or control as an individual executive."

Persons: Aly, Daniel Zhang, Alibaba, Eddie Wu, Zhang, Wu, Canalys, Li Chengdong, Li, Sern Ling, Union Bancaire Privee, Donny Kowk, Josh Ye, Yelin, Anne Marie Roantree, Brenda Goh, Muralikumar Anantharaman, Christopher Cushing Organizations: Artificial Intelligence, REUTERS, China's, Reuters, DAMO Academy, Huawei Technologies, Union Bancaire, HK, Thomson Locations: Shanghai, China, HONG KONG, Hong Kong, HK, Alibaba, Beijing, Yelin Mo

☆ China's Ant Group unveils finance AI model as race heats up
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-08 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] Ant Group sign is seen at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, China July 6, 2023. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsHONG KONG, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Ant Group unveiled a finance-specific artificial intelligence (AI) model on Friday and started testing consumer and professional apps for the product, joining a crowded race to deploy AI in heavily regulated China. The foray by Ant into financial AI is notable as the company founded by billionaire Jack Ma is China's biggest fintech firm, with more than 1 billion users worldwide for its Alipay payment app. Ant follows AI announcements by tech giants Tencent (0700.HK) and Xiaomi (1810.HK) on Thursday and Ant's affiliate Alibaba (9988.HK) in April. The Zhixiaobao 2.0 app, designed to give consumers financial tips, can match the average financial professional in market analysis and reasoning capability, Ant said.

Persons: Aly, Ant, Jack Ma, OpenAI's, Josh Ye, William Mallard Organizations: Artificial Intelligence, REUTERS, Ant Group, HK, Thomson Locations: Shanghai, China, HONG KONG

☆ China's Tencent debuts large language AI model, says open for enterprise use
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-07 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/David Kirton/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsBEIJING, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Tencent Holdings (0700.HK) said on Thursday companies could now use its large language artificial intelligence (AI) model "Hunyuan" as it premiered the much-awaited product amid a race by tech firms race to become China's AI champion. Hunyuan's debut comes after several Chinese tech firms including Baidu Inc (9888.HK) and SenseTime Group (0200.HK) recently unveiled their own AI models. Tencent, China's most valuable internet company, said Hunyuan had more than 100 billion parameters and was trained with more than 2 trillion tokens, two metrics often used to measure AI models' power. OpenAI's GPT-3 AI model contained 175 billion parameters in 2020 and Meta Platform Inc (META.O)'s Llama 2 model had 70 billion parameters in 2023. AI experts often describe moments where AI models generate incorrect information but present it as if it was a fact as "hallucination".

Persons: David Kirton, Hunyuan, Jiang Jie, OpenAI's, Tencent, ChatGPT, Josh Ye, Christopher Cushing, Miral Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Tencent Holdings, HK, Baidu Inc, SenseTime, Meta, Beijing, Thomson Locations: Nanshan district, Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China, Rights BEIJING, Hong Kong

☆ China's Tencent to unveil AI chatbot after Beijing clears hurdles
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-06 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A man walks outside the Tencent headquarters in Nanshan district of Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China September 2, 2022. REUTERS/David Kirton/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsHONG KONG, Sept 6 (Reuters) - China's internet giant Tencent Holdings (0700.HK) said that it will unveil an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot on Thursday, according to a social media post it published on Wednesday. The post featured a demo conversation a user had with the AI chatbot, which helped the user write promotional materials. Tencent has been developing its own AI model named "Hunyuan" for months and the company said last month that it was expanding the test of the model internally. Reuters reported in February that the company formed a team to develop a ChatGPT-like chatbot named "HunyuanAide" at the time.

Persons: David Kirton, chatbot, Tencent, Josh Ye, Jacqueline Wong Organizations: REUTERS, Tencent Holdings, HK, Baidu Inc, SenseTime, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Nanshan district, Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China, HONG KONG

☆ China's 360 and iFlytek release AI models to public
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-05 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

AI (Artificial Intelligence) letters are placed on computer motherboard in this illustration taken, June 23, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsBEIJING, Sept 5 (Reuters) - China's 360 Security Technology (601360.SS) and iFlytek (002230.SZ) on Tuesday became the latest tech firms to release their artificial intelligence (AI) models to the public. Unlike other countries, China requires companies to submit security assessments and receive clearance before AI products can be available for anyone to use. Authorities have recently accelerated efforts to support companies developing AI as the technology increasingly becomes a focus of competition with the United States. Hefei-based iFlytek, best known for it voice recognition technology, said it was launching its "Spark" AI model while Beiing-based 360 Security Technology, best known for its antivirus software, launched its its AI model "Zhinao", according to the state-backed Securities Times.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Josh Ye, Jacqueline Wong, Edwina Gibbs Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Security Technology, Authorities, Securities Times, Baidu Inc, HK, SenseTime, Thomson Locations: Rights BEIJING, China, United States, Hefei, Hong Kong, Beijing

☆ Tencent, others begin enforcing China's new oversight move on apps
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-04 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The moves comply with new rules introduced last month as Beijing tightens oversight of mobile apps in the country. "The Android app stores have confirmed that new apps require the app filings from Friday onwards, and existing apps must have it from March 31 onwards," Rich Bishop, CEO of app publishing firm AppInChina said. "It forces all global apps on these app stores to either establish a local entity or work with a local partner." As of Monday, it is not yet checking apps' filing status, AppInChina said, citing its own checks. The notice also said app stores will have to clearly mark each app's filing status on their platforms.

Persons: Aly, Rich Bishop, AppInChina, Vivo, Tencent's, MIIT, Josh Ye, Brenda Goh Organizations: World Internet Conference, REUTERS, Tencent Holdings, HK, Reuters, Tencent, Huawei Technologies, Apple, Ministry of Industry, Information Technology, Huawei, Xiaomi, Thomson Locations: Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, China, HONG KONG, Beijing

☆ Huawei and Alibaba among companies seeking Chinese deepfake approvals
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

An AI (Artificial Intelligence) sign is seen at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, China July 6, 2023. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsBEIJING, Sept 1 (Reuters) - China's cyberspace regulator has received 110 applications from Chinese technology companies such as Huawei (HWT.UL) and Alibaba (9988.HK) for approvals related to models that can be used to manipulate visual and audio data. This approval process is separate from the CAC's regulation of Chinese tech firms looking to push out generative artificial intelligence (AI) products, which have been in high demand ever since the success of U.S. firm OpenAI's ChatGPT. Five Chinese tech firms, including Baidu Inc (9888.HK) and SenseTime Group (0200.HK), on Thursday launched AI chatbots to the public after receiving government approval. Reporting by Eduardo Baptista, Josh Ye, and Brenda Goh Editing by David Goodman and Mark PotterOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Aly, OpenAI's, chatbots, Eduardo Baptista, Josh Ye, Brenda Goh, David Goodman, Mark Potter Organizations: Artificial Intelligence, REUTERS, Rights, Huawei, HK, Cyberspace Administration of China, CAC, Baidu Inc, SenseTime, Thomson Locations: Shanghai, China, Rights BEIJING

☆ China's Xpeng to acquire Didi's smart EV unit in deal worth up to $744 mln
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-28 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File photo Acquire Licensing RightsHONG KONG, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Chinese electric car company Xpeng (9868.HK) said it will acquire ride-hailing giant Didi's smart electric vehicle (EV) unit in a deal worth as much as $744 million and the two companies will form a strategic partnership. As part of the deal, Xpeng will launch an A-class model next year under a new brand, currently called MONA, aiming to expand in the mass-market segment with the car to be priced in the $20,000 price tier. "Project 'MONA' will accelerate the Company's production and sales growth and help achieve greater economies of scale," Xpeng said in a statement. The deal comes amid slowing demand and excess manufacturing capacity in China's EV industry that has made it hard for relative newcomers such as Didi to enter the market. Didi will acquire around 3.25% of Xpeng shares under the deal, which could increase depending on whether production and sales targets are fulfilled.

Persons: Didi, Brendan McDermid, HONG KONG, Xpeng's, Xpeng, MONA, robotaxis, Josh Ye, Edwina Gibbs Organizations: New York Stock Exchange, REUTERS, HK, EV, Thomson Locations: New York City, U.S, HONG

☆ China online platforms scrap lucky draw features amid gambling crackdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-25 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Analysts say online content platforms pulled the plug on features such as virtual lucky draws after the government in June started cracking down on live streaming, as part of a wider clampdown on online gambling. While the platforms say they ban gambling, analysts say the extremely popular lucky draws are often manipulated by live streamers colluding with viewers to share the prize. None of these companies mentioned the gambling crackdown when they reported their earnings, and they did not respond to request for further comment. However, the co-founder of a popular live streaming platform in Guangzhou, who declined to be named citing the sensitivity of the topic, told Reuters that several popular live streaming and live chat apps had to suspend services after police probes. Online gambling remains a concern, with the authorities saying in 2020 that the cross-border flow of funds for gambling posed a national security risk.

Persons: Florence Lo, HONG KONG, Analysys, Ivan Su, Huya, Charlie Chai, Tencent, Chai, Josh Ye, Farah, Brenda Goh Organizations: Entertainment, QQ, REUTERS, Tencent, HK, Morningstar, Cloud, NetEase, Reuters, Thomson Locations: HONG, Guangzhou, Beijing

☆ Lenovo Q1 revenue misses forecasts, hit by poor PC demand
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-17 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The world's largest PC maker has now suffered four consecutive quarters of sales declines. Revenue in the April-June quarter fell to $12.9 billion, below a $13.84 billion average of seven analyst estimates compiled by Refinitiv. Lenovo shares in Hong Kong fell as much as 6% after the result but recouped some losses to trade down 2.9%, while the benchmark index (.HSI) gained 0.9%. However, revenue started contracting last year as demand began to fall, weighed down by rising interest rates and soaring inflation. "The group’s PC business is stabilizing and well-positioned for a year-on-year recovery in the later part of 2023," Lenovo said in a statement.

Persons: Thomas White, HSI, Yang Yuanqing, he's, Yang, Josh Ye, Miyoung Kim, Lincoln, Sonali Paul Organizations: Lenovo, REUTERS, HK, Revenue, Refinitiv, Global, Thomson Locations: HONG KONG, Hong Kong, China

☆ China's Tencent posts smaller than expected revenue growth; gaming falls short
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-16 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The world's largest video game company and operator of the WeChat messaging platform said revenue reached 149.20 billion yuan ($20.45 billion) for the three months ended June 30. That compared with the 151.73 billion yuan average of 21 analyst estimates compiled by Refinitiv. Domestic gaming revenue stayed mostly flat at 31.8 billion yuan, while international gaming revenue rose 12% to 12.7 billion yuan, excluding the impact of currency movements. It grew 34% to 25 billion yuan as its TikTok-like short video service Video Accounts experienced increased demand. Revenue from fintech and business services grew 15% to 48.6 billion yuan which the company said reflected expansion in both offline and online payment activities.

Persons: David Kirton, HONG KONG, Tencent, Shawn Yang, Josh Ye, Himani Sarkar, Raju Gopalakrishnan Organizations: REUTERS, Tencent Holdings, HK, Refinitiv, Blue Lotus Capital Advisors, Inc, Thomson Locations: Nanshan district, Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China, HONG, fintech

The logo of China's Tencent Music Entertainment Group is seen next to an earphone in this illustration picture taken March 22, 2021. REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration/File PhotoAug 15 (Reuters) - China's Tencent Music Entertainment Group (1698.HK), said on Tuesday second-quarter revenue rose 5.5% from a year ago, driven by growth in paying users on its Spotify-like music streaming platform and a recovery in the advertising market. The number of paying users of its online music streaming service rose more than 20% to 100 million, a milestone for the company. Net profit attributable to equity holders rose to 1.30 billion yuan from 856 million yuan a year earlier. To attract more users and stave off competition from the likes of NetEase-owned Cloud Music and ByteDance's short-video sharing platform Douyin, Tencent Music has been aggressively adding original content in recent quarters.

Persons: Florence Lo, Cussion Pang, Pang, Josh Ye, Samrhitha, Maju Samuel, Tomasz Janowski Organizations: Entertainment, REUTERS, HK, Spotify, Tencent Holdings, Wall, Cloud Music, Thomson Locations: Hong Kong, Bengaluru

☆ China cyberspace regulator issues guidelines targeting offensive comments against businesses
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

A sign above an office of the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) is seen in Beijing, China July 8, 2021. REUTERS/Thomas PeterHONG KONG, Aug 10 (Reuters) - China cyberspace regulator issued a set of guidelines on Thursday targeting offensive comments against businesses on social media as Beijing seeks to improve the business environment. The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said that online platforms should focus on addressing false and misleading information about businesses online. Offensive comments aimed at entrepreneurs and disclosure of private information about people on the internet should also be addressed. Reporting by Josh Ye; Editing by Jacqueline WongOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Thomas Peter HONG KONG, Josh Ye, Jacqueline Wong Organizations: Cyberspace Administration of China, REUTERS, Thomson Locations: Beijing, China

☆ China to require all apps to share business details in new oversight push
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-09 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Thomas Peter/File PhotoHONG KONG, Aug 9 (Reuters) - China will require all mobile app providers in the country to file business details with the government, its information ministry said, marking Beijing's latest effort to keep the industry on a tight leash. The new rule is primarily aimed at combating online fraud but it will impact on all apps in China, he said. Bishop said that in order to comply with the new rules, app developers now must either have a company in China or work with a local publisher. Use of such apps are not allowed in China, but they can be still downloaded from app stores, enabling Chinese to use them when traveling overseas. China already requires mobile games to obtain licences before they launch in the country and it had purged tens of thousands of unlicenced games from various app stores in 2020.

Persons: Thomas Peter, HONG KONG, ，, Rich Bishop, AppInChina, Bishop, Josh Ye, Miyoung Kim, Kim Coghill Organizations: REUTERS, Ministry of Industry, Information Technology, Apple, Facebook, Thomson Locations: Beijing, China, HONG, Shanghai

☆ Exclusive: TikTok in talks to gain Indonesian payments licence
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-04 | by ( Stefanno Sulaiman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

A spokesperson for TikTok confirmed on Friday that the talks were taking place, adding that an Indonesian payments licence would help local creators and sellers on its platform. A representative for the central bank, Bank Indonesia, did not respond to a request for comment. A payments licence would enable TikTok to benefit from transaction fees and put it more directly in competition with Southeast Asian e-commerce giants, Sea's (SE.N) Shopee and Alibaba's (9988.HK) Lazada. Douyin, the Chinese counterpart to TikTok that is also owned by ByteDance, obtained a Chinese payments licence in 2020. It was not immediately clear if TikTok has obtained a payments license elsewhere in the world.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, TikTok, Shou Zi Chew, Stefanno Sulaiman, Josh Ye, Edwina Gibbs Organizations: REUTERS, Reuters, TikTok, Bank Indonesia, HK, Lazada, ByteDance, Momentum, Thomson Locations: JAKARTA, Indonesia, U.S, Southeast Asia, Europe, TikTok, China, United States, Montana, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong

☆ China's Tencent says it is expanding testing of 'Hunyuan' AI model
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-03 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

REUTERS/Aly SongHONG KONG, Aug 3 (Reuters) - China's Tencent Holdings (0700.HK) said on Thursday that it has started internal testing of its self-developed artificial intelligence (AI) model, which is now being integrated with a number of internal services and products. In a statement sent to Reuters on Thursday, Tencent said its foundation AI model named "Hunyuan" has been integrated with a range of products such as Tencent Cloud, Tencent Meeting and Tencent Docs. "The Tencent Hunyuan large model, completely developed by ourselves from scratch, has now entered the application testing phase within the company," the company said. Reuters first reported the company's effort to develop the Hunyuan model in February. On Thursday, Tencent also listed Tencent Games, Tencent Advertising, QQ Browser, WeChat Search and Tencent Fintech as lines of business that have been testing the Hunyuan model recently.

Persons: Aly, HONG KONG, Tencent, Josh Ye, Jason Neely, Kim Coghill Organizations: Artificial Intelligence, REUTERS, Tencent Holdings, HK, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Shanghai, China, Shenzhen

☆ Alibaba unveils open-sourced AI model similar to Meta's Llama 2
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

3D printed clouds and figurines are seen in front of the Alibaba Cloud service logo in this illustration taken February 8, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File PhotoHONG KONG, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Chinese tech giant Alibaba Group's (9988.HK), cloud computing unit released two open-sourced artificial intelligence (AI) models on Thursday in a bid to take on Meta Platform (META.O). The Hangzhou-based company said it will open-source two large language models (LLM), a type of AI model, named Qwen-7B and Qwen-7B-Chat on Thursday in a press release. Each model has 7 billion parameters, which is often used to measure the strength. This comes after Meta unveiled a similar open-sourced model named Llama 2 last month.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, HONG KONG, Josh Ye, Himani Sarkar Organizations: REUTERS, HK, Meta, Thomson Locations: HONG, Hangzhou

☆ China looks to limit children to two hours a day on their phones
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Youngsters check mobile phones during a dinner time at a cafeteria in Shanghai, China September 3, 2021. Users aged 16 to 18 would be allowed two hours a day, children aged eight to 16 would get one hour while children under eight would be allowed just eight minutes. But the CAC said service providers should allow parents to opt out of the time limits for their youngsters. Xia Hailong, a lawyer at the Shanghai Shenlun law firm, said the rules would be a headache for the internet companies. The proposed rules come after signals from Beijing that a years-long regulatory crackdown on its technology industry has ended.

Persons: Aly, Hong Kong, Xia Hailong, ByteDance's, Josh Ye, Liz Lee, Jacqueline Wong, Robert Birsel Organizations: REUTERS, Cyberspace Administration of China, CAC, HK, Tencent Holdings, Authorities, Thomson Locations: Shanghai, China, Hong, Hong Kong, Beijing

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