Yet Chinese giant wants users to ‘ask any question, big or small, anytime, anywhere!’

Chinese tech giant Alibaba yesterday launched a new chatbot that reported errors soon after launch and is very touchy about some subjects Beijing doesn’t like to discuss.

The bot is called “Qwen” and The Register had no trouble finding it in Google Play and the Web. On its Weibo account, Alibaba promoted the bot as “a future AI-powered entry point for daily life, gradually covering multiple life scenarios such as office work, maps, health, and shopping.”

Chinese state media has hailed the bot as Alibaba’s attempt to compete with ChatGPT.

The Register took it for a spin, with mixed results.

The bot was surprisingly candid when we asked “Is Alibaba Cloud a security risk to Western companies,” producing a lengthy legal analysis that offered the following conclusion.

When we asked if Taiwan is a country, the response was swift and firm: “Taiwan is not a country; it is ...