Students in China Use ChatGPT from Behind the Firewall
By Adam Pease
Students in China Use ChatGPT from Behind the Firewall
Recent news has highlighted an interesting new phenomenon in China. Students are using virtual private networks (VPNs) to get around the government’s firewall restriction and use ChatGPT to write their homework. This blog discusses the implications of the story.
Everyone’s Talking About ChatGPT
It’s hard for anyone in the orbit of the tech sector to avoid the sheer amount of news stories that have been coming out about ChatGPT. OpenAI’s conversational AI interface has been put to use fast for many emerging use cases.
They also recently released its API for ChatGPT, which is competitively priced to enable a slew of new enterprise applications for generative text content.
In China, where the access to ChatGPT is disabled by the government’s firewall, it has been harder for citizens to gain access to the technology that is having such an impact in the West.
International Competition for the Best Language Model
Despite the firewalls in place, though, Chinese citizens have been successful at using VPNs to get around the banned website filter.
Students report that they have been using the tool to get ahead on their homework, write essays, learn new subjects, and more.
In the West, we have seen a mixed reaction to generative AI in the education world—some teachers vehemently oppose its use in the classroom while others insist on the need for its integration. It remains to be seen what kind of educational culture for AI will develop in China.
Aragon feels that stories like this one demonstrate the growing significance of language model technology in the international sphere.
As students and everyday people increasingly desire and expect the kind of chat experience that can be enabled by this technology, market competition will increase.
It is likely we’ll soon see a Chinese language model that competes with GPT-3 to better serve its native users.
Bottom Line
The popularity of ChatGPT is not limited to the West. The tool’s use by students who want to get ahead in their studies suggests that there will be incentives for international competitors to develop products like OpenAI that can be used all around the world.
Interested in what ChatGPT means for the enterprise?
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