China’s AI models: Chinese authorities have greenlit more than 40 artificial intelligence (AI) models for public utilisation within the first half-year since the commencement of governmental oversight in AI development, as reported by Chinese media.

According to the state-backed Securities Times, Chinese regulators recently authorised a total of 14 large language models (LLMs) for public access, marking the fourth wave of approvals. 

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Among the recipients are prominent entities like Xiaomi Corp, 4Paradigm, and 01.AI.

Beijing initiated the requirement for tech firms to obtain regulatory approval to deploy their LLMs for public use in August. This underscores China's strategy in fostering AI technology while maintaining regulatory oversight and control.

The initial batch of AI models received approval shortly after the adoption of the approval process in August, with companies like Baidu, Alibaba, and ByteDance among the first recipients. 

Subsequently, Chinese regulators granted two more rounds of approvals in November and December, followed by the latest batch this month.

While the government has not publicly disclosed the comprehensive list of approved companies, Securities Times indicated that over 40 AI models have received approval.

Chinese companies have accelerated their efforts in AI product development, notably since the global success of OpenAI's ChatGPT in 2022. 

At the time, China accounted for 130 LLMs, representing 40 per cent of the global total, trailing closely behind the United States' 50 per cent share, as per brokerage CLSA.

Baidu's Ernie Bot, one of China's prominent ChatGPT-like chatbots, has attracted over 100 million users, according to the company's Chief Technology Officer in December.

(With Reuters Inputs)