01 360 launched the AI store
After the explosion of ChatGPT, artificial intelligence was put on the cusp, and various Internet companies set off an "AI war". It is precisely because of this that 360, which is not willing to be left behind, began to increase the layout of artificial intelligence and officially launched the 360 AI store.
Public information shows that the 360 AI store will serve as AI navigation, bringing together the world's mainstream AI tools, making it more convenient for ordinary users to use AI tools.
At present, the 360 AI store page is divided into three entrances: "AI Information", "360 Wisdom Brain" and "Soda Office", bringing together hundreds of products in 18 different categories, including Baidu's Wenxin Yiyan, ByteDance's Volcano Writing, iFLYTEK's iFLYTEK Smart Work, etc.
From the above information, 360 Browser, which has more than 400 million users, is to use its good traffic base to create a tool that provides a display window and traffic entrance for AI applications, so as to "add bricks" to the development of AI products. It should be noted that the 360 moves much more than that. As early as April 9, 360 search engine product based on artificial intelligence technology - "360 Wisdom Brain" took the lead in landing the search scene and opened the internal test for enterprise users. At present, 360 Brain can use advanced natural language processing technology to intelligently identify users' needs and provide more accurate results through voice interaction and text input.
On April 21, Zhou Hongyi, founder of 360, said in an internal letter that every employee, product and business of 360 should fully embrace artificial intelligence, adapt to human-machine collaboration, and start product reshaping.
It can be seen from this internal letter that Zhou Hongyi is quite firm in the idea that artificial intelligence will bring great changes to enterprises.
In addition, Zhou Hongyi also described the 360 large model strategy as "two wings flying together", and continuously launched related products to seize user scenarios while stepping up self-research of core algorithms.
Now that the AI store is online, 360's artificial intelligence layout has obviously taken a new step. Since then, as various artificial intelligence products are connected to the 360 AI store, various Internet companies will continue to benefit, and the commercial value of domestic large models will continue to be activated.
It is worth mentioning that this week OpenAI will open up networking functions and plug-in ecology to all ChatGPT Plus users, which means that OpenAI is about to establish an app store and create its own exclusive ecosystem.
In this way, Zhou Hongyi took the lead in letting 360 take the lead in launching the AI store, which also shows his determination to shape the big model into the entrance of the Internet ecology at home and abroad.
From another perspective, 360's continuous efforts in AI also mean that it needs to have sufficient cash flow to increase capital investment and "escort" subsequent development.
According to data, global investment in generative AI has increased by 425% from 2020 to now, with as much as $2.1 billion invested in 2022 alone.
In terms of 360, its R&D investment will reach 3.3 billion yuan in 2022, a year-on-year increase of nearly 6%, accounting for nearly 35% of revenue. In addition, as of the end of the first quarter of this year, 360 held nearly 24 billion yuan of monetary funds.
It can be seen that Zhou Hongyi has been quite well prepared, and this time 360 is bound to make a breakthrough in the field of artificial intelligence.
02 Big factory chaotic AI big model
In fact, 360's obsession with GPT and AI large models is also affected by the overall situation of the industry.
In the past two months alone, mainland Internet companies, universities and research institutions have released more than 30 AI large model products. For example: Baidu's "Wen Xin Yiyan", Ali's "Tongyi Qianwen", Tencent's "Mixed Yuan", and the aforementioned "360 Wisdom Brain".
(Source: Wisdom Valley Trends)
It can be said that access to large-model products has become the consensus of major Internet enterprises.
But then again, not every company has the ability to independently develop large-model products, and those who can currently conduct research and development are basically Internet giants with sufficient funds and strong computing power.
From the perspective of computing power alone, Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent and other Internet giants with algorithms and data have the most advantages.
Taking Baidu as an example, as one of the few AI companies in the world that carries out full-stack layout, it is a well-deserved leader in the field of artificial intelligence in China.
Especially in the domestic intelligent cloud market, it continues to lead. Data show that in the first half of 2022, Baidu Intelligent Cloud reached 28.1% of the market share in AI public cloud services, ranking first in the AI public cloud market for four consecutive years.
In 2022, Baidu Intelligent Cloud ranked first in the Chinese market in three areas: AI public cloud, conversational AI, and AI industrial quality inspection, and ranked as a leader in many core fields such as financial cloud, smart city, digital human, and Internet of Things.
(Source: IDC China)
It can be said that cloud computing is an important driving force for Baidu to promote the development of artificial intelligence.
It is based on such algorithm advantages that Baidu has become the first Internet manufacturer in China to launch a large language model "Wen Xin Yiyan".
After Baidu fired the first shot, Ali and Tencent joined the battlefield one after another, resulting in increasingly fierce competition for large models.
However, as far as the large model products launched by these large manufacturers are concerned, they still have a big gap with ChatGPT, even Baidu, which is a search engine, launched Wenxin from its own advantages, and lacks innovation ability.
According to Zhou Hongyi, the domestic large model still adopts the imitation and following strategy, and there is still a gap with ChatGPT.
In addition, from the perspective of long-term development, the scale of the mainland artificial intelligence market continues to grow rapidly, which also promotes the efforts of various Internet manufacturers to develop AI models.
Data shows that the size of the mainland AI market will exceed $14.7 billion in 2023 and more than $26.3 billion by 2026.
It is also for this reason that Ali, Tencent, Baidu, Huawei, and 360 have all increased the layout of AI. For example, Alibaba announced that all its products will be connected to the "Tongyi Qianwen" model for a comprehensive transformation; Baidu's "Wen Xin Yiyan" is embedded in its internal work platform, and it has announced the upcoming launch of AI smartphones and more.
In the final analysis, in order to catch the express train of AI and seize the opportunity of a new round of technological change, Internet giants have entered the era of large models.
03 Market reshuffle intensifies, innovation is king
Nowadays, AI large models have become the key development direction of Internet companies, and in the future, as all parties continue to increase their weight, the reshuffle of the large model market will continue to intensify.
Under the new round of integration and reshuffle, if Internet companies want to achieve overtaking on curves and come to the top, the only thing they can rely on is to improve their innovation capabilities.
Previously, Baidu founder Robin Li also said that computing power can be bought, but innovation ability cannot be bought.
(Source: Zhongxin Jingwei)
Interpreting this sentence in combination with the actual situation, two conclusions can be obtained: First, innovative technology can promote the successful landing of the large model of Internet enterprises and create the core competitiveness of technology. Second, innovative technologies can help Internet companies seize the opportunities brought by AI and accelerate the "industrialization" era of the global AI industry.
In other words, in the second half of the Internet competition, large enterprises and small enterprises can not avoid the wave of artificial intelligence, and in this wave of AI set off by ChatGPT, what these companies can do is to find a reliable innovation path.
According to the current situation, although the domestic Internet manufacturers have entered the era of large models, there are still many things that need to be improved in related products, and future innovation capabilities may be the key to whether large manufacturers can make breakthroughs in the field of artificial intelligence.
As the domestic Internet industry sets off a big model war, 360, Baidu and other companies face more and more challenges, and the opportunity to change their fate will be closer and closer.
Author | Li Xiang