BEIJING, Sept 7 (Reuters) – Tencent Holdings (0700. HK), a juggernaut in the world of technology, has unveiled a groundbreaking AI model, named “Hunyuan,” and is making it available for enterprise use. This highly anticipated release comes amid an intense race among tech giants vying for the coveted title of China’s AI champion.
The Chinese tech giant, renowned as the owner of the immensely popular WeChat social media platform, showcased the immense capabilities of Hunyuan before a captivated live audience at a conference held in Shenzhen. Tencent proudly announced that Hunyuan has already become the cornerstone of over 50 of its diverse products and services.
Jiang Jie, Tencent’s vice president, emphasized the competitive landscape, revealing, “By July, there are more than 130 large language models in China. A war of a hundred models has begun.” This statement underscores the fierce competition in the AI sector, as companies vie to develop the most powerful and versatile language models.
Hunyuan, Tencent’s latest innovation, boasts an impressive arsenal of more than 100 billion parameters and was meticulously trained using an astonishing 2 trillion tokens. These metrics serve as a testament to the sheer power and potential of Hunyuan. For context, OpenAI’s GPT-3 AI model contained 175 billion parameters back in 2020, while Meta Platform Inc (META.O)’s Llama 2 model, a formidable competitor in its own right, featured 70 billion parameters as of 2023.
What sets Hunyuan apart is its remarkable versatility. This AI model can fluently converse in both Chinese and English, enhancing its global applicability. Tencent boldly claims that Hunyuan surpasses OpenAI’s ChatGPT in various domains, particularly excelling in tasks such as generating extensive text spanning thousands of words and solving complex mathematical problems.
Moreover, Tencent asserts that Hunyuan exhibits significantly less “hallucination” compared to Llama 2, another heavyweight in the AI arena. “Hallucination” in AI refers to instances where models generate incorrect or misleading information, presenting it as factual. Hunyuan’s enhanced accuracy and reliability make it a formidable contender in the AI landscape.
Tencent’s unveiling of Hunyuan marks a significant milestone in the ongoing race for AI supremacy. As technology continues to advance at an unprecedented pace, the emergence of such powerful language models promises to revolutionize various industries and open up new possibilities for businesses worldwide. With Tencent’s commitment to making Hunyuan available for enterprise use, the AI landscape is set for a transformative shift, paving the way for innovative applications and solutions that were once considered beyond reach.