BEIJING: China’s ministry of science and technology said on Friday said it saw the potential of ChatGPT-like tech and would be pushing for the integration of artificial intelligence into Chinese society and the economy.

“[This technology] has the potential to be applied in many industries and fields,” Chen Jiachang, who heads the ministry’s high-tech department, told a news briefing, praising its natural language processing capabilities.

Minister Wang Zhigang also told the same briefing that from an ethics standpoint, technologies like ChatGPT should not be limited too much so they can be developed effectively, though he cautioned that all technological achievements have “two sides”.

Their comments came at a time when Chinese tech companies and investors are keeping an eye on how Beijing will regulate ChatGPT-like technology.

Published in Dawn, February 25th, 2023