Last Tuesday, Alibaba announced its intentions to put out its own artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot product called Tongyi Qianwen - another rival to take on OpenAI's pioneering ChatGPT natural language processing tool. The Chinese technology giant is hoping to retrofit the new chatbot system into several arms of its business operations. Alibaba had revealed initial plans for chatbot integration earlier this year, and mentioned that it was providing an alternative to the already well established ChatGPT tool. Alibaba's workplace messaging application - DingTalk - is slated to receive the first AI-powered update in the near future, although the company did not provide a firm timeline for Tongyi Qianwen's release window. The product name "Tongyi Qianwen" loosely translates to "seeking an answer by asking a thousand questions" - Alibaba did not provide an official English language translation at last week's press conference. Their chatbot is reported to function in both Mandarin and English language modes. Advanced AI voice recognition is set for usage in the Tmall Genie range of smart speakers (similar in function to the Amazon Echo). Alibaba expects to expand Tongyi Qianwen's reach into applications relating to e-commerce and mapping services.

At last week's conference, Alibaba's chairman and chief executive Daniel Zhang made an ambitious statement: "We are at a technological watershed moment driven by generative AI and cloud computing. Ten to 20 years from now, when we look back, we will realize we were all on the same starting line. Seizing these future opportunities is our common wish and requires a shared vision." Other Chinese firms, including SenseTime and Baidu, have also revealed plans for chatbot product launches. A worldwide development frenzy has ensued, with many big companies in a bid to compete with OpenAI's offering. Google debuted Bard last month, its own conversational artificial intelligence chatbot is available (on a trial basis) to users in the USA and UK.