Baidu’s Ernie writes poems but says he doesn’t know enough about Xi, tests show | – #Baidus #Ernie #writes #poems #doesnt #tests #show
BEIJING, 20 March (Reuters) – Baidu’s ( 9888.HK ) bot Ernie can create pictures of flowers in seconds and write poems in the style of the Tang dynasty, but it will dismiss questions about Chinese President Xi Jinping, saying it has yet to learn how to answer them. , Reuters showed the tests.
The Chinese search engine giant launched its closest competitor to China’s OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot last week, allowing users to apply to enter it starting Thursday.
Some analysts and users soon began posting positive reviews of their experiences with the Ernie bot and side-by-side comparisons with ChatGPT, which boosted Baidu’s stock price.
Still, there are questions about how Ernie and other Chinese chatbots in development will handle sensitive topics in mainland China, where authorities heavily censor the Internet.
Reuters’ tests of ChatGPT showed that the Microsoft-backed chatbot doesn’t hesitate to answer such questions.
Reuters asked Ernie Xi several questions on Monday, including whether he was a good leader, his contributions to China and a request for his poem and portrait.
He answered some of these questions with a two-point description of Xi’s education and roles, but declined to answer most.
“As a large-scale language model of artificial intelligence, I have not learned how to answer this question, you can ask me other questions, and I will do my best to solve them for you,” the bot said.
He responded similarly to questions about China’s 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square and the authorities’ treatment of the Uyghur Muslim ethnic minority in the western region of Xinjiang.
Sometimes the user can change the themes offer was doing
“Let’s change the subject and start over,” read the warning Reuters received more than a dozen times in response to sensitive questions.
Baidu did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Such responses were not limited to sensitive topics in Xi or China. Ernie bot USA President Joe Biden and would give the same reboot instructions when asked similar questions about his predecessor, Donald Trump.
However, the bot can answer some questions about international relations, e.g. USA-He was able to give lengthy answers to questions such as why China’s relations deteriorated, although China’s reunification military he changed the subject again when he answered more controversial questions, such as whether or not he used force. Taiwan.
Political The strict restrictions on discussion are in line with Baidu’s compliance with government demands to censor search results on sensitive topics.
Asked how it approaches sensitive issues, the bot said it considers “relevant laws and moral standards” when judging whether a topic can be “openly discussed.”
When Baidu CEO Robin Li introduced the Ernie bot last week, he said the chatbot is not perfect and urged users to understand their mistakes, adding that the chatbot will improve exponentially with user feedback.
Reporting by Eduardo Baptista; Edited by Brenda Goh and Robert Birsel
Our standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
2023-03-20 15:20:42
Source – reuters
Translation“24 HOURS”