OpenAI Enforces Harsher API Restrictions on Unsupported Countries

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China, North Korea, Iran and Russia are not on OpenAI’s supported countries list.

OpenAI, the U.S, developer of ChatGPT, has said that from July 9 it will enforce stricter measures to block Application Programming Interface (API) traffic from countries it does not support. These include China, North Korea, Iran and Russia.

The move comes amid concerns posted on OpenAI’s community forum, in which developers complain of restrictions on their API usage due to traffic from unsupported areas.

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Explore the story in 30 seconds

OpenAI will block API traffic from unsupported countries including China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia starting July 9.
Some developers face challenges complying with OpenAI's traffic restrictions, while Chinese developers using overseas servers report no immediate impact.
Chinese AI companies are offering migration plans and alternatives like Claude 3, while OpenAI has faced scrutiny and suggested regulatory measures for AI model deployment.

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Who’s Who

Zhipu AI: Zhipu AI is a Chinese AI model company that has responded to OpenAI's new restrictions by offering migration plans for OpenAI API users. They introduced a relocation plan that provides high-usage clients with membership benefits and technical support.

Tongyi Qianwen: Tongyi Qianwen, a Chinese AI model developed by Alibaba, introduced a seamless transition plan for users affected by OpenAI's API restrictions. The plan promotes migrating to its Qwen-plus model, which is priced significantly lower than OpenAI's offering.

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What Happened When

November 2022：: ChatGPT has not been available in several countries, including China, since its launch.

April 6, 2023：: Chinese ChatGPT-related stocks fell after some Chinese users reported their ChatGPT accounts had been banned.

May 2023：: At a congressional hearing, Sam Altman, OpenAI CEO, suggested implementing a registration or licensing system for the deployment of large AI models globally.