SHANGHAI - Alibaba Group Holding on Tuesday showed off its generative AI model – its version of the tech that powers chatbot sensation ChatGPT – and said it would be integrated into all of the company’s apps in the near future.

The unveiling, which came on the heels of the launch of a slew of new AI products by another Chinese firm SenseTime this week, was swiftly followed by the government’s publication of draft rules outlining how generative AI services should be managed.

In a filmed demonstration, the AI large language model, named Tongyi Qianwen which means “truth from a thousand questions”, drafted invitation letters, planned trip itineraries and advised shoppers on types of makeup to purchase.

Tongyi Qianwen will initially be integrated into DingTalk, Alibaba’s workplace messaging app and can be used to summarise meeting notes, write e-mails and draft business proposals. It will also be added to Tmall Genie, Alibaba’s voice assistant.

The technology “will bring about big changes to the way we produce, the way we work, and the way we live our lives”, Alibaba’s chief executive Daniel Zhang told a live-streamed event.

AI models like Tongyi Qianwen are “the big picture for making AI more popular in the future”, he added.

The Chinese internet giant’s cloud unit plans to open Tongyi Qianwen to clients, so they can build their own customised large language models. Registrations for Tongyi Qianwen began on Friday.

The draft rules published by the Cyberspace Administration of China said the country supported the technology’s innovation and popularisation but generated content had to adhere to “core socialist values” as well as to laws on data security and personal information protection.

Those who fall afoul of the rules could face fines or criminal investigation, it added.

The proposed rules, open for public feedback until May 10, come as governments around the world are looking at how best to regulate generative AI technology, which has sparked much concern about its ethical implications as well as its impact on national security, jobs and education.

Italy last month temporarily banned ChatGPT, the chatbot sensation developed by Microsoft-backed OpenAI that has sparked the run of companies developing similar products.

In an open letter citing potential risks to society, Tesla founder Elon Musk and a group of artificial intelligence experts and industry executives have also called for a six-month pause in developing systems more powerful than OpenAI’s newly launched GPT-4.

Mr Charlie Chai, an analyst from 86Research, said Beijing’s new rules would potentially slow down progress “in exchange for a more orderly and socially responsible deployment of the technology”.

They would also set up obstacles for foreign companies looking to provide AI services in the country, benefiting domestic companies, he added.

Global interest in generative AI, which learns from past data to create new content, has surged since the release of ChatGPT late last year.

A number of Chinese companies have revealed or teased AI models and chatbots.

Search giant Baidu announced its Ernie Bot chatbot earlier in 2023. The bot remains open only to trial users as of April.

On Monday, Chinese AI company SenseTime unveiled a slew of new AI products, including a chatbot called SenseChat.

Mr Zhang said that Alibaba and other companies working on AI models were at the “starting line” of a new phenomenon.

“Seizing this opportunity is a common wish for all of us,” he said.

Shares in Alibaba rose 1.5 per cent in Hong Kong trade, while the broader market was flat. Shares in SenseTime initially surged but were later down 2.7 per cent. REUTERS