Baidu, Alibaba, iFlyTek and Chinese companies have developed offerings similar to ChatGPT. Credit: Koshiro K via Shutterstock.

Zhihu, a Chinese knowledge-sharing platform, has developed a new search feature that leverages an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm to complete tasks, reported South China Morning Post (SCMP).

The technology is similar to the one being employed by US-based OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

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Zhihu chief technology officer Li Dahai said the company plans to commence the internal testing of the function, called Sousuo Juhe, immediately, reported the state-owned publication Science and Technology Daily.

In English, Sousuo Juhe means “search aggregation”.

Responding to a user’s query on a specific topic, the feature would extract and compile user-generated answers, which “improves the efficiency in accessing information”, SCMP said, citing the report.

The Chinese Q&A platform is leveraging a large language model (LLM) it has developed with local AI startup ModelBest.

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Zhihu is also an investor in the Beijing-based ModelBest.

An LLM is a deep-learning system that can recognise, summarise, translate, predict, and create text and other material using the information gathered from massive amounts of data.

Over the weekend, ModelBest launched Luca, a chatbot similar to ChatGPT that can create documents, translate articles, and analyse images.

The changes follow the introduction of guidelines by China’s top internet watchdog, the Cyberspace Administration of China, last month that requires generative AI services to obtain a security clearance to function.

Chinese search engine major Baidu, e-commerce behemoth Alibaba, AI tech company SenseTime, and voice recognition business iFlyTek have also developed services akin to ChatGPT, demonstrating China’s support for the industry.