The format was changed to satisfy the 'strong demand' from 120,000 companies that had applied to test Ernie Bot, the search giant said

Analysts say supercomputing power is the major obstacle holding back China's ChatGPT-like bot developers

Ernie bot responded in a similar manner to questions about China's 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown and the treatment of Uyghur Muslims

"Ernie Bot is not a tool of confrontation between China and the United States," said Baidu CEO Robin Li.

Artificial intelligence firms targeted by the US are reportedly using third parties to get around chip export controls

A US Treasury report said a programme to block US investment going to advanced tech sectors in countries deemed to be a potential security threat would cost $10 million, if set up this year

New US rules are expected to cover private-equity and venture-capital investments in advanced semiconductors, supercomputing and some forms of artificial intelligence

Shares of Silicon Valley outfit C3.ai leapt 16.14% before the bell on Friday and were among the top five stocks trending on StockTwits

Chinese tech companies building their own versions of ChatGPT are trying to recruit artificial intelligence researchers from abroad

Competitors Alibaba and Baidu are also working on products similar to the viral chatbot, which so far remains inaccessible in China

Users would become more dependent on the Baidu search engine once it is embedded with the AI-powered chatbot, company CEO Robin Li told reporters

The US government plans to bar investment in some Chinese tech companies, to stop American money pouring into sensitive sectors such as chips for artificial intelligence