Chinese tech giants Alibaba and Huawei are reportedly ready to satisfy local demand for generative AI chatbots in coming weeks. Since the release of OpenAI's ChatGPT, Chinese users have been eager to get their hands on the technology. Cities like Beijing have pledged to assist developers, while academia and private industry alike have made progress. A university-developed ChatGPT analog crashed within a mere four hours under the weight of a crushing traffic surge. Meanwhile, private industry versions like Baidu's ERNIE have had their own troubles – including managing censorship and botching some requests.

SDAIA and Alibaba Cloud announced an MoU to partner in supporting Saudi Arabia's path to develop smart cities through AI, SPA said. "Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 has clear goals to transform KSA cities into smart ones by unlocking the value of city data as a national asset to realize Vision 2030 aspirations," said Abdullah Bin Sharaf Alghandi, President of SDAIA. SDAIA and Huawei signed an MOU to recognise Arabic language and character using AI technology and with the help of researchers from the kingdom and Huawei, according to SDAIA's twitter account. Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 reform plan is a package of economic and social policies designed to free the kingdom from dependence on oil exports. SDAIA is seeking IBM's help in developing "real use cases" of AI in areas of health, energy and other sectors, as well as training through a strategic relationship, it said.