SHANGHAI, Feb 7 Reuters Chinese artificial intelligence stocks are the latest rage in mainland markets as the global frenzy around the Microsoftbacked ChatGPT chatbot spurs speculative bets on the revolutionary computing technology.

Just two months after its launch, ChatGPT which can generate articles, essays, jokes and even poetry in response to prompts has been rated the fastestgrowing consumer app in history. That has pushed Google owner Alphabet Inc to plan its own chatbot service and using more artificial intelligence for its search engine.

While ChatGPT is not accessible in China, mainland investors are still pumping up the shares of AI technology companies such as Hanwang Technology Co, TRS Information Technology Co and Cloudwalk Technology Co.

The CSI AI Industry Index, which includes larger capitalized companies such as iFlytek Co, is up about 17 this year, outperforming the benchmark CSI300 Index39;s 6 rise.

To be sure, there is no indication that these AI companies are close to pushing out a ChatGPTlike product. The closest seems to be search engine giant Baidu Inc with plans to complete testing of its Ernie bot in March. Its shares surged more than 15 on Tuesday after making the announcement.

The industry as a whole tends to first speculate on expectations before only later trading on actual results, said Zhang Kexing, general manager of Beijing Gelei Asset Management.

Shares of Hanwang Technology, which makes products that enable intelligent…