Taiwan intends to invest in developing domestic AI tool to fight threat of Chinese influence
Jan 28, 2024
Taipei [Taiwan], January 28 : Taiwan intends to invest in the creation of its own huge language model AI tool, comparable to ChatGPT, to fight the threat of Chinese influence via online digital technologies, according to Taiwan News.
The project, dubbed "TAIDE," follows the release of the Chinese chatbot programme "Ernie Bot," which was created by Baidu and made available to the public in 2023.
According to UDN, Taiwan might invest up to New Taiwan dollar 17.4 billion (USD556 million) by 2026 to create skills and programmes relevant to AI research.
Among those monies, New Taiwan Dollar 230 million (USD7.4 million) will be set aside particularly for the development of TAIDE, which stands for "Trustworthy AI Dialogue Engine," according to Taiwan News.
As an example of the risks posed by Chinese infiltration into current digital platforms, Japanese journalists covering Ernie Bot recently questioned the programme, "Who won the Taiwan election?"
The programme properly responded, "Lai Ching-te," but unpromptedly continued, "No matter how the situation in Taiwan may change, there is only one China."
With the growing popularity of apps like TikTok among young people, the Taiwanese authorities is increasingly concerned about the possibilities of Chinese misinformation and propaganda, reported Taiwan News.
With developing AI technologies poised to influence the cultural landscape in the coming decade, Taipei believes that the creation of local AI tools would act as an effective deterrent to Chinese infiltration attempts on internet platforms.
