(Yicai Global) April 7 -- Chinese e-commerce titan Alibaba Group Holding’s cloud computing arm is inviting companies to test its new large language model application, developed to tap into the runaway success of US artificial intelligence firm OpenAI’s ChatGPT, ahead of its expected launch next week.

Firms can apply to experience and test Tongyi Qianwen through the chatbot’s new website which was set up today, Alibaba Cloud said.

The large language model is expected to debut during the 2023 Alibaba Cloud Summit which will get underway in Beijing on April 11, tech news site IT Home reported today. A number of AI models in different sectors will be released after that.

Chinese tech firms have been racing to enter the AI-generated content sector ever since ChatGPT went viral earlier this year. Search engine titan Baidu launched its Ernie Bot on March 16, and telecoms giant Huawei Technologies has said its AI model PanGu will be ready very soon.

Alibaba said in February that its research institute the DAMO Academy was developing a ChatGPT-like chatbot and that it was already conducting tests on the Hangzhou-based firm’s staff members. But it is unclear if this is the same chatbot as Tongyi Qianwen.

DAMO Academy has been focused on the cutting-edge field of artificial intelligence, including natural language processing, for many years. It started to develop large language models in 2019 and has so far released multiple versions.

Editor: Kim Taylor