Alibaba, Huawei Unveil New Products, Image Generator as AI Race Heats Up in China

Alibaba's image generator named Tongyi Wanxiang will initially be available to enterprise customers in beta form.

By Reuters | Updated: 7 July 2023 19:40 IST

Alibaba, Huawei Unveil New Products, Image Generator as AI Race Heats Up in China

Photo Credit: Reuters

Alibaba Cloud presented an image generator named Tongyi Wanxiang

Highlights

Huawei demonstrated the third iteration of its Panggu AI model
Chinese tech companies are aggressively developing AI products
Alibaba's image generator will compete with OpenAI's DALL-E

Alibaba Group Holdings and Huawei Technologies 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.

Samsung Wins Patent for a Tri-Fold Smartphone With Specialised Barrier Layer for Improved Durability

Chinese tech companies are aggressively developing AI products after the ChatGPT chatbot by OpenAI ignited a generative AI boom. McKinsey estimates that generative AI could eventually add $7.3 trillion (roughly Rs. 82,597 crore) in value to the world economy each year.

Alibaba's image generator will compete with OpenAI's DALL-E and Midjourney's Midjourney, US-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. In April, it launched a ChatGPT-like text generator Tongyi Qianwen.

OpenAI Is Forming a Superalignment Team to Supervise 'Superintelligent' AI

In addition to the Tongyi Wanxiang image generator, which roughly translates as "truth from tens of thousands of pictures", presented on Friday, Alibaba Cloud has also rolled out ModelScopeGPT, an AI tool for developers.

Huawei said its AI takes a different approach from many AI applications. Rather than focusing on generating content, its Pangu 3.0 model would mostly serve industrial usages, it said.

The Shenzhen-based company said its model aims to ensure more efficient safety inspections for freight train carriages, AI assistance for local government services and more accurate weather prediction.

ChatGPT Sees Decline in Traffic for the First Time Since It Was Launched

© Thomson Reuters 2023

From the Nothing Phone 2 to the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra, several new smartphones are expected to make their debut in July. We discuss all of the most exciting smartphones coming this month and more on the latest episode of Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.