Alibaba to Build ChatGPT-Like AI Into Meeting, Messaging Apps

(Bloomberg) -- Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is integrating its most advanced artificial intelligence system into its Slack-like DingTalk messaging app and a meeting assistant named Tingwu.

Most Read from Bloomberg

• PGA Tour Bows to Saudi Rival in Shock Combination With LIV Golf

• Ukraine Dam Blast Blamed on Russia Tips War Into New Phase

• SEC’s Coinbase Lawsuit Heralds Deepening US Crypto Crackdown

• George Santos Loses Bid to Shield the People Who Guaranteed His $500,000 Bail

• Russia’s Dam-Busting Is Another War Crime

The large language model (LLM) developed by Alibaba Cloud, dubbed Tongyi Qianwen, is now powering interactions with a new version of the assistant, Tongyi Tingwu. It helps by analyzing audio and video files and generating text summaries, and is now open to the public to try. That bot will also be integrated into DingTalk, the cloud unit said in a statement Thursday.

OpenAI’s breakthrough ChatGPT bot has hastened the release of LLMs by companies around the globe, from internet players like Alibaba and Baidu Inc. to hardware companies like Asustek Computer Inc.

Alibaba announced its LLM on April 11, saying it will gradually add it across its various businesses to improve the user experience and enhance competitiveness. The integration with the meeting assistant is a response to the growing amount of video and audio consumed daily, the company’s cloud unit tech chief Jingren Zhou said in the statement.

Read more: Alibaba Enters ChatGPT Fray With AI Speaker, Slack-Like App

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

• A $1.5 Trillion Backstop for Homebuyers Props Up Banks Instead

• Giorgia Meloni Seeks to Cement Power by Remaking Corporate Italy

• China’s BYD Is Racing Toward the Top of the Global EV Market

• Google’s Top Lawyer Preps for Fights Over AI and Tech ‘Censorship’

• Moving Saharan Sunshine to Europe via Undersea Cables

©2023 Bloomberg L.P.