OpenAI plans to prevent people from using ChatGPT in China, a country where its services are not officially available, but where users and developers access them through the company's API anyway. Value timesA Chinese state newspaper reported on Tuesday that OpenAI had begun sending emails to users in China outlining its plans to block access starting July 9. technology/artificial-intelligence/openai-cut-access-tools-developers-china-other-regions-chinese-state-media-says-2024-06-25/” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank” data-ylk=”slk:according;elm:context_link;elmt:doNotAffiliate;cpos:1;pos:1;itc:0;sec:content-canvas”>according to Reuters.
“We are taking additional steps to block API traffic from regions where we do not support access to OpenAI services,” an OpenAI spokesperson told the publication. The move could affect several Chinese startups that have built apps using OpenAI's large language models.
Although OpenAI services are available in more than 160 countries, China is not one of them. According to the company's guidelines, users trying to access the company's products in unsupported countries could be blocked or suspended, although the company has not explicitly done so until now.
It's unclear what prompted OpenAI's move. Last month, the company revealed that it stopped covert influence operations, including one that originated in China, that used its artificial intelligence models to spread disinformation on the Internet. Bloomberg ai-tools-from-china?cmpid%3D=socialflow-twitter-markets&sref=10lNAhZ9″ rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank” data-ylk=”slk:pointed out;elm:context_link;elmt:doNotAffiliate;cpos:3;pos:1;itc:0;sec:content-canvas”>he pointed that OpenAI's move coincides with Washington's pressure on American technology companies to limit China's access to cutting-edge technologies developed in the United States.
