OpenAI will ban application programming interface (API) access to its artificial intelligence (AI) models in China, but this will not apply to Microsoft Azure customers in the country.
Azure operates in China through a joint venture and said in a public statement that its AI models are available to Chinese customers, Seeking Alpha reported on Monday (July 8), citing a paid article in The Information.
OpenAI reportedly plans to block Chinese users from accessing its API starting Tuesday (July 9).
OpenAI did not immediately respond to PYMNTS’ request for comment.
On June 25, it was reported that OpenAI plans to take additional steps to limit China’s access to its AI software by enforcing the company’s existing policy of banning users from countries outside of the regions the company supports.
Bloomberg noted in the article that OpenAI supports access to its services in dozens of countries, and that its guidelines state that accessing its products in countries not on the list, such as China, may result in your account being blocked or suspended.
The company’s ChatGPT is not available in mainland China, but businesses can build their own applications by accessing the company’s API platform, Reuters reported on June 25.
“We are taking additional steps to block API traffic from regions that do not support access to OpenAI’s services,” an OpenAI spokesperson said in the report.
In January, it was reported that the Biden administration was proposing tough regulations that would require major cloud service providers, including Microsoft, to identify and actively vet foreign customers developing AI applications on their platforms.
The Biden administration has also been working to restrict China’s access to advanced semiconductors.
China’s rapid development of AI and other next-generation technologies has become a top concern for the Biden administration, which sees Beijing as a key global strategic competitor.
In a recent report, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) said China has emerged as a leader in generative AI patents, filing more than six times as many patent applications as the United States.
