Weekly News

October 8 – 12, 2023 

18th UN Internet Governance Forum held

Themed on “The Internet We Want - Empowering All People”, the 18th UN Internet Governance Forum (IGF) was held at the Kyoto International Conference Center in Kyoto, Japan from Oct 8 to 12. 

More than 300 activities were held by different parties during the forum. Participants worldwide held discussions on such topics as artificial intelligence (AI) and emerging technologies, avoiding internet fragmentation, cybersecurity and cybercrime, data governance and trust, digital divides and inclusion, global digital governance and cooperation.

The UN IGF was set up by the UN in November 2006 based on the resolution made at the World Summit on the Information Society. As an open forum on internet governance, its principle is to promote discussions and dialogue on internet-related public policies. Its secretariat is located at the United Nations Office in Geneva.

China releases trial guideline on the review of sci-tech ethics

Ten government departments -- including the ministries of science and technology, industry and information technology, and education -- have recently released a trial guideline on the review of science and technology ethics. The guideline aims to standardize the ethics review of scientific research and technological development, strengthen the prevention and control of ethical risks, and raise innovators’ sense of responsibility.

The guideline notes that the review of sci-tech ethics should be carried out in a scientific, independent, fair and transparent way. The review mechanisms and procedures should be open to the public, the assessment of ethical risks objective and cautious, and scrutiny in line with laws and regulations.

The guideline specifies sci-tech activities that should be reviewed. They include sci-tech activities involving human research participants, human biological samples and personal information data, as well as those related to experimental animals.

OpenAI to independently develop AI chips

The developer of ChatGPT, OpenAI, is exploring developing its own AI chips and has assessed potential targets for purchases.

[Photo/ Lianhe Zaobao]

OpenAI has not released its cost of operating large models to the public. But previous reports have claimed that if OpenAI continues to spend money for operation at this speed, the company is very likely to go bankrupt by the end of 2024. According to analyst Stacy Rasgon from Bernstein Research, every search costs about 4 cents. If ChatGPT’s search volume increases to one-tenth of that of Google, it will need graphics processing unit (GPU) worth about 48.1 billion US dollars and chips worth about 16 billion US dollars to maintain operation.

OpenAI is the not only company that plans to develop chips independently. According to The Information, Microsoft plans to release its first AI chips at its annual developers conference to be held next month.

Qualcomm names next-generation PC chips to compete with Apple’s M series

Qualcomm announced on Oct 11 that it has set up a new naming system for next-generation PC computing platforms - Snapdragon X. The company said that Snapdragon X will be based on customized Oryon CPU cores, mainly used for laptops to significantly increase performance and efficiency. Its special neural processing unit (NPU) for AI processing will improve users’ experience of generative AI.  

Both Snapdragon X chips and Apple chips of the level of M1 and above possess NPU. They are designed especially for AI processing of small-size equipment. Snapdragon X may be released to compete with Apple’s M chips.

[Photo/pixabay]

Qualcomm didn’t reveal more about Snapdragon X products, but kept it until the Snapdragon Summit 2023. Noting that 2024 will be a turning point for the PC industry, Qualcomm said that the Snapdragon X computing platform will provide higher-level performance, AI, connection and battery life.

NetEase Youdao launches world’s first virtual oral language private teacher

NetEase Youdao launched on Oct 12 the world’s first virtual oral language teacher Hi Echo equipped with its Youdao Zi Yue large model.

[Photo/China News Service]

As a one-on-one oral language private teacher, Hi Echo enables users to carry out high-quality oral language conversations. Users can practice anytime and anywhere on multiple platforms. It is equipped with eight conversation scenarios and 68 topics, supporting free talks. It also will give marks for correct pronunciation and grammar, revise grammatical mistakes, suggest authentic wording, and improve language styles. It will allow users to further improve their speaking language ability.

Zi Yue large model is China’s first large model private teacher in the education sector. It was launched in July this year.