By South China Morning Post | Created at 2024-10-21 10:32:01 | Updated at 2024-10-21 12:28:12
1 hour ago
Microsoft on Monday closed individual OpenAI subscriptions in mainland China via its Azure cloud-computing platform, which had been the only legitimate way for such users to access the ChatGPT creator’s services, months after the American start-up blocked its application programming interface (API) in “unsupported countries and territories”.
The restriction on individual users was made “due to local regulatory requirements”, which means “only enterprise customers are eligible to subscribe to Azure OpenAI Service”, according to an email Microsoft sent to its cloud users that was seen by the South China Morning Post.
The Azure OpenAI Service has been widely used by local developers to legitimately access the US firm’s API and connect their own services to the artificial intelligence (AI) powerhouse’s various technologies, including its flagship GPT-4o model. APIs are the software intermediary that allows different systems to communicate and share data or features with each other.
The action taken by Microsoft means the “only legitimate method” for individuals to access OpenAI’s API in China has been blocked, according to JetSquirrel.cloud, a user of social media platform Xiaohongshu, where he shared the email about the Azure restriction.
