Executives from Chinese tech companies including Alibaba Group Holding and generative artificial intelligence startup Zhipu AI discussed how large language models (LLMs) will impact their businesses at an annual conference held by Luohan Research Institute, a public research institute founded by Alibaba.
Based on the company's Model-as-a-Service platform, enterprises across industries can fine-tune Zhipu AI's LLM to fit their business needs and create various applications. For example, a major securities dealer in China used the service to create an “AI brain” that can perform multiple tasks, such as helping customers choose the best stock portfolio and answering questions.
Zhang added that the company's API services could be an “alternative” to OpenAI, which plans to end API access in China from July 9. OpenAI's move has sparked fierce competition among Chinese LLM developers to fill the void left by the US company.
Zhang is optimistic about the potential of the LLM application market. “There are predictions that more than 80% of enterprises will use LLM by 2026, but we have higher expectations than this,” Zhang said. “Today, whether it's an enterprise or an individual, [they] I am more or less participating in the use of the LLM.”
The annual event, held to foster discussion on socio-economic topics, has placed more emphasis on AI than in previous years, with five of the conference's six sub-forums including the word “AI” in their main topics, including “AI and the Future of Socio-Economic Development,” “Fintech and AI,” and “AI for Business.”
“The reason we attach so much importance to artificial intelligence is because the wave of AI development is transforming economic conditions and business models, making human life more complicated than ever before,” Luohan Academy president Chen Long said on Thursday.
Founded by Alibaba in 2018 as an open research institute, the academy has undergone “adjustments in organizational relationships, team structure and focus” following the e-commerce giant's restructuring, Alibaba said in October last year.
Still, many of the guest speakers come from Alibaba-affiliated companies, other tech executives and academics. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.
Huang Hao, senior vice president of fintech giant Ant Group, highlighted how the company's LLM-based services can improve efficiency in the insurance industry.
Specifically, Ant's Shengxinpei service — an “AI insurance planner” the company will launch in 2023 — can assist buyers in their decision-making by helping them understand different types of insurance services and find the right one, Huang said.
Zhang Kaifu, vice president of Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group, Alibaba's Hangzhou-based international e-commerce unit, spoke about his unit's experience using a home-grown generative AI tool to help small and medium-sized businesses enter overseas e-commerce markets.
“Over the past year or so, we have started to apply AI to international commerce… We are very excited about the great potential that AI has to lower barriers to international trade and truly enhance the international competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises in particular,” Zhang said.
