Tencent says AI model coming this year is among China’s best


Tencent said its experimentation with AI goes far beyond the kind of bots made famous by OpenAI’s ChatGPT. — AFP

Tencent Holdings Ltd said it plans to unveil a proprietary artificial-intelligence model later this year that it believes will be among the best in China, an early sign the internet powerhouse expects to compete in the field against early leaders such as Baidu Inc and SenseTime Group Inc.

Tencent executives, addressing the AI phenomenon after reporting financial results, said its progress in developing a large language model to power generative AI and other applications was going very well. The games giant has been perceived as trailing some of its domestic peers, in part because it’s said little about its efforts. It has been testing the model, called Hunyuan, on services like cloud computing and search.

“It’s among the top leading foundation models produced in China,” said Martin Lau, the company’s president, on the second-quarter earnings call Wednesday. “We are very relentlessly working on the upgrade and iteration to prepare it for launch at some point of time in the latter part of this year.”

Tencent said its experimentation with AI goes far beyond the kind of bots made famous by OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The Chinese company is testing AI internally for gaming, cloud computing and financial technology. It also anticipates being able to use the technology to boost its advertising and marketing efforts.

“AI, the more we look at it, the more excited we are about it as a growth multiplier for our business,” Lau said. “We look at the opportunity and technology much more broadly than just a chatbot and Q&A type of experience.”

On the cloud side, Tencent is preparing a marketplace for business clients, where they can pick and choose generative AI-powered services, which will translate into high-margin profit to the company, Lau says. – Bloomberg

Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel for breaking news alerts and key updates!
   

Next In Tech News

Perplexity raising new funds at $9 billion valuation, source says
Trump Media reports $19 million loss in third quarter on TV streaming costs
Super Micro shares fall as server maker misses sales targets, annual filing uncertain
Apple set to face fine under EU's landmark Digital Markets Act, sources say
Amazon CEO denies full in-office mandate is 'backdoor layoff'
Musk now says it's 'pointless' to build a $25,000 Tesla for human drivers
Google defeats lawsuit over gift card fraud
Russian court fines Apple for not deleting two podcasts, RIA reports
GlobalFoundries forecasts upbeat Q4 results on strong demand from smartphone makers
Emerson sharpens automation focus with offer for rest of AspenTech in $15 billion deal

Others Also Read