China has approved over 40 AI models for public use in the past six months. The approvals were granted in four tranches since the establishment of the approval process around August last year. Companies such as Xiaomi, 4Paradigm, and 01.AI are among those that have received approvals for their AI models. The Chinese government has not disclosed the exact list of approved companies. Baidu's Ernie Bot, has garnered more than 100 million users, according to the company's CTO in December.

These approvals are part of China's efforts to keep up with the global AI competition, which has seen the emergence of various AI-powered products and services. The report comes at a time when the US is preparing to issue an executive order to monitor AI models. The approvals assume significance in the context of the ongoing technological competition between nations. The details of the approved AI models are not publicly available.

China approves models for public use