The sensation around ChatGPT has ignited the AI industry and its various new applications, according to new data released by Bloomberg, with increased chip orders heating up global AI chip competition despite sluggish demand for consumer electronic products.

According to the data, the AI surge is driving up orders from NVIDIA and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) – two companies that provide key AI-training semiconductors.

And the development of powerful computing clusters and next-generation AI training systems is also driving demand for chip testing tools, such as those by the Tokyo-based Advantest, its chief strategies officer Yasuo Mihashi said in an interview with Bloomberg.

The increasing use of AI is pushing for chip miniaturization and advanced packaging, which heightens the likelihood of defects arising during the manufacturing process, thereby reinforcing the need for chip testing tools from a structural standpoint, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Masahiro Wakasugi. 

Global caution over ChatGPT

As the fastest growing consumer AI application, ChatGPT has accumulated hundreds of millions of users since it was launched in November last year. However, growing concerns about the tool have emerged in several countries and outlining rules for artificial intelligence has proved difficult. 

Italy temporarily banned ChatGPT in late March over data worries, although it has agreed to reopen the chatbot at the end of April if its maker OpenAI takes "useful steps" to address the concerns.

Italy was the first country to ban the program, but others are considering their options as they reckon with the rapid pace of AI progression and its implications for society. 

According to Reuters, privacy regulators in France and Ireland have reached out to counterparts in Italy to find out more about the basis of the ban. Germany could follow in Italy's footsteps by blocking ChatGPT over data security concerns, the German commissioner for data protection told the Handelsblatt newspaper.

The rest of the European Union, however, is expected to take a restrictive stance on AI rather than banning the tool. The EU has proposed the European AI Act, which would restrict the use of AI in critical infrastructure, education, law enforcement and the judicial system. It has been in the works for over two years and is expected to be completed by the end of this year, but there is no concrete deadline.

The UK stated in a policy paper published in March for AI that it would take an adaptable approach as the technology evolves. It said that regulators would issue practical guidance to organizations, as well as other tools and resources like risk assessment templates over the following 12 months.

The U.S., where most of the chatbot tools' developers, including Microsoft and Google are based, has not yet proposed any formal rules to bring oversight to AI technology. Its Homeland Security department said on Friday that it would create a task force that "will lead in the responsible use of AI to secure the homeland and in defending against the malicious use of this transformational technology."

(With input from Reuters)