China's DIFFERENT Approach to the ChatGPT Opportunity
Ronen Lamdan
CRO | VP Sales | SaaS/B2B Startup Advisor | Go To Market, Channels and Business Development
With the inundation of our news feeds with the ChatGPT frenzy, it's interesting to see how Chinese tech companies are taking a differentiated approach to this exciting capability as they do not want to be left out of the AI race (it's NOT a copy-paste by any means!). Let's not forget the China Government stake in the ground to be the global leader in this space by 2030...
Instead of all-encompassing AI solutions like ChatGPT, Chinese tech companies are focusing on specific enterprise applications. JD.com's ChatJD will focus on the retail and finance industry, while NetEase's Youdao plans to launch a similar AI service targeting the education industry.
By applying ChatGPT-like technology to targeted sectors, companies can gain a competitive edge in commercialization and project implementation. It is precisely this differentiated use-case driven approach that leads to easier monetization.
China owns the largest number of internet users in the world, has rich application scenarios, and obviously possesses the advantage of data accumulation. Furthermore Chinese companies and researchers own better Chinese-language AI training materials. On the other hand, no global model can currently match ChatGPT's LLM impressive performance and it will take a long time for a competitor to emerge.
China will unlikely make a ChatGPT clone, not so much due to the technology but due to Government policy and the nature of LLMs that opens users to the possibility that they'll receive unwanted or uncesored responses for which companies will likely be held liable.
领英推荐
In the words of the legendary CMO, Advisor and Author Christopher Lochhead ???? ???????? , "It comes down to leveraging the exponential value of what makes you or your venture 'different' rather than leaning on the incremental value of what makes you 'better.' "
Add to this a clear commitment by the Beijing Government to actively support building GPT-style applications with the already existing ecosystem and AI talent, and you have a perfect storm for innovation in the space.
Aside from technological imperfections, ChatGPT has yet to show a sustainable business model for OpenAI and its investors. From Microsoft's perspective, ChatGPT is a tool that can be embedded in different applications, but judging from its current maturity, it has yet to bring significant incremental commercial value to Microsoft.
China's approach will be fascinating to watch as they are almost forced into a differentiated approach to this technology. History shows us that Chinese tech companies should remain vigilant and prepared, and at the same time embrace their different - industry knowledge accumulation and data training expertise - to achieve profitable monetization in the short term. If they get this right, the impact on industry may be greater than what we imagine...and fear.