OpenAI seeks Mandarin speakers despite China ban

OpenAI has posted roles in Singapore and San Francisco that require Mandarin skills to serve Mandarin-speaking clients and communities, even as the US AI company continues to exclude China from its service coverage.

Its website said the Singapore-based developer experience engineers would create technical content, tools, and sample apps while working closely with developers and technical founders.

The company also said growth partner managers based in San Francisco would be required to speak Mandarin.

People in China’s tech sector said the listings reflect the size of the Chinese-speaking developer base.

China had 9.4 million software developers last year, or about one-third of the global total, said Li Xiaodong, vice-chair of the China Internet Association.

🔗 Source: South China Morning Post

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

OpenAI’s Singapore office marks a wider Asia push

OpenAI plans to open a Singapore office later in 2024. It will be its second office in Asia and fourth international branch, serving partners across Asia Pacific 1.
OpenAI is working with AI Singapore, a national AI program. It will provide up to US$1 million for resources that help AI models fit Southeast Asia’s languages and cultures 1.
This follows OpenAI’s decision to stop providing application programming interface (API) services to Hong Kong, mainland China and other unsupported countries and regions on July 9, 2024 2.
Use in Singapore is already high. OpenAI said residents rank among the world’s highest per-capita ChatGPT users, and weekly active users there have doubled since the start of 2024 1.

Chinese AI firms move as the market divides

After OpenAI blocked API access, Baidu and Zhipu AI, a Chinese AI startup, offered migration plans and free tokens to OpenAI users. Zhipu AI offered 150 million free tokens 3 4.
The shift could deepen a market split. Hong Kong and mainland China may rely more on Chinese providers. Other regions may keep using OpenAI’s API, in a pattern compared with the Douyin versus TikTok divide 2.
The decision fits the wider US-China tech conflict. Limits now reach beyond chips into access to advanced AI tools delivered through cloud services and APIs 4.
Zhipu is also expanding abroad. Its work includes offices in the UK, Singapore, Malaysia, plus projects in Southeast Asia and the Middle East amid geopolitical constraints 5.