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ChatGPT and other generative AIs

ChatGPT and other generative AIs
Latest news and updates on ChatGPT, a large language model conversational bot operated by Microsoft-backed OpenAI that is able to understand sophisticated questions and give surprisingly humanlike text responses, and other generative AI, including Baidu's Ernie Bot, and image generation software such as Midjourney, Stable Diffusion and Dall-e 2. The articles focus on the implications of such technology, the challenges it could pose China’s censors, possible bans by educational institutions, AI regulation, and the development of other similar software.
Alphabet Inc.’s Google debuted an updated version of its artificial intelligence model, Gemini, that executives said represents a “massive jump” in reasoning and coding ability. (Dreamstime/TNS)
Chinese culture

What does AI predict will happen in the fiery Year of the Horse 2026?

With the rise of AI mirroring the Year of the Fire Horse’s restless energy, we ask DeepSeek, Perplexity and Gemini their 2026 predictions.

Artificial intelligence

Computing constraints force China’s Zhipu to restrict AI coding service sign-ups

Artificial intelligence

Baidu launches Ernie 5.0 as firm’s AI assistant users reach 200 million a month

Artificial intelligence

Open Questions | Why practical use of AI, not race for supremacy, is key for this author

Academic Jeffrey Ding explains why human capital will determine whether US or China wins the AI race, not which attains superintelligence first.

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Illustration: Henry Wong
Education in Hong Kong

Hong Kong teams up with experts to develop AI tailored for schools

Secretary for Education Christine Choi tells legislature authorities are exploring launching a large language model relating to city’s school curriculum.

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Asean

As more nations block Grok for obscene content, calls for Asean-wide curbs mount

The Philippines should push the fight against deepfakes high on the Asean agenda as the bloc’s chair, analysts say.

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DeepSeek

DeepSeek a year on: how a Chinese start-up sparked a global AI arms race

DeepSeek’s meteoric rise propelled the growth of the open-source AI ecosystem by spurring its competitors to join the movement.

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DeepSeek’s meteoric rise has propelled the growth of the open-source AI ecosystem by spurring its competitors to join the movement. Photo: Shutterstock
Artificial intelligence

Tencent seeks cooperation with other AI firms to better serve vulnerable users

Tencent Research Institute looks to build expert data sets for AI models that could broadly benefit the world’s second most populous nation.

X (formerly Twitter)

Musk’s xAI sued over Grok deepfakes – this time, by mother of his child

Ashley St Clair, mother of Musk’s 13th child, said that in one photo, an image of her at 14 was altered to show her in a bikini.

Malaysia

X marks the bot: Malaysia says Grok ban may be lifted if it is proven to be safe

Though X has deactivated several prompts, more changes need to be made to ensure the site’s safety, Malaysia’s communications minister says.

Screens display the logo of Grok and its founder Elon Musk. Photo: AFP
Artificial intelligence

Musk’s Grok barred from undressing AI images after global backlash

‘Spicy Mode’ feature had allowed users to create sexualised deepfakes of women and children.

Grok has been allowing users to manipulate images of women and children to sexualise them. Photo: dpa
Artificial intelligence

Alibaba reaffirms open-source AI commitment as it hails successes

‘Building with the community’ is crucial to the success of the Qwen family of large language models, company says.

Education in Hong Kong

Nearly 1 in 4 Hong Kong students can’t finish homework without AI, study shows

Our Hong Kong Foundation calls for unified AI platform and more comprehensive curriculum to cover students at all academic levels.

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Hong Kong economy

Producers at Hong Kong toy fair bet on AI-powered plushies to double sales

But some buyers also express concerns over use of the technology in toys for children.

AI-powered plushies were among the highlights at this year’s toy fair. Photo: Sam Tsang
Artificial intelligence

Ant International teams up with Google on use of Universal Commerce Protocol

The endorsement of Google’s open standard comes as companies globally accelerate the integration of AI agents and e-commerce.

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Ant International is endorsing Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol, an open standard that powers agentic commerce. Photo: Handout
Artificial intelligence

Alibaba’s Qwen family hits 700 million downloads to lead open-source AI adoption

Alibaba Cloud’s Qwen family is the world’s most widely used open-source AI system as of January, Hugging Face data shows.

Artificial intelligence

China’s AI unlikely to surpass US soon despite progress, researchers say

China’s top AI scientists warn of chip deficits and resource limits, though some predict breakthroughs within five years.

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Elon Musk

Elon Musk to open source X algorithm in 7 days amid global scrutiny

The company has been working to incorporate more AI into its recommendation algorithm through Grok, Musk’s AI chatbot.

Musk has promised in recent years to make some of X’s algorithms public. Photo: dpa
Artificial intelligence

DeepSeek to customise namesake chatbot for Italian users following probe

The firm agrees to a package of commitments, including tackling AI model ‘hallucination’ issues, with the Italian Competition Authority.

Artificial intelligence

China’s DeepSeek adds advanced ‘thinking’ feature amid buzz over next model

Hangzhou-based AI start-up installs ‘interleaved thinking’ as monthly users surge 90 per cent to nearly 131.5 million.

Artificial intelligence

Chinese quant fund joins DeepSeek in AI race with LLM rivalling GPT-5.1, Claude

Beijing-based Ubiquant launches code-focused systems claiming benchmark wins over US peers despite using far fewer parameters.

Ubiquant is one of the first quant trading funds in China to apply AI at scale to quantitative investment. Photo: Shutterstock
Malaysia

Malaysia, EU threaten action against X, Grok AI for offensive images

Malaysian authorities said they are investigating images produced by Grok after complaints about the misuse of AI to manipulate images of women and minors.

xAI and Grok logos are seen in this illustration from February 16 last year. Photo: Reuters
United States

Musk’s Grok AI faces scrutiny over complaints it undressed minors in photos

Grok AI under fire for enabling erotic images of minors, violating its own policy, sparking urgent safety fixes and global investigations.

Artificial intelligence

China takes confident strides to develop more AI innovation in 2026

‘China’s tech innovation is poised for policy-driven growth in 2026, with AI placed at the centre of the country’s economic agenda,’ NYU’s Winston Ma says.

Artificial intelligence

China-founded Tripo AI updates 3D content platform as users more than double

‘This shows that we’re on the right track,’ founder and CEO Simon Song Yachen says.

Tripo AI’s flagship platform, Tripo Studio 1.0, generates 3D content from text or images in seconds. Photo: Handout
Artificial intelligence

Macroscope | Can AI deliver the economic goods and high returns? Don’t count on it

The dash towards AI might become a rout as the public rebels against the environmental costs while investors worry about the returns.

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A construction worker stands outside a data centre being built in Sedenak Tech Park in Johor, Malaysia, on September 27, 2024. Emerging AI data centres are giving the region’s main data centre hubs, Japan and Singapore, a run for their money. Photo: AP
Artificial intelligence

Chinese researchers unveil new technique for near-instant AI video creation

TurboDiffusion is expected to enable commercial-scale video creation at less cost and a faster pace.

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Artificial intelligence

ByteDance, other major Chinese tech firms lead local consumer AI market: report

ByteDance-owned Doubao remains the country’s top consumer AI app, as DeepSeek’s namesake chatbot takes the No 2 spot.

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