Beijing warns tech giants to curb ‘involution’ amid AI giveaway war

China’s top market regulator has summoned the country’s leading tech companies to demand an end to “involutionary” competition, at the time when the companies are pouring billions of yuan into a Lunar New Year promotional blitz to win over users for services including artificial intelligence apps.The SAMR “reminded” the platforms to “further regulate promotional activities” and stay clear of “all forms of involutionary competition”, it said, without naming any exact activities conducted by the companies.The companies should “jointly uphold a fair and competitive market environment to foster innovation and healthy development within the platform economy”, the regulator added.The word “involution”, or neijuan, refers to cutthroat, low-quality price competition in sectors ranging from electric vehicles to food delivery. It has become a common term in China over the past few years, with Beijing vowing to combat the phenomenon because of its damaging economic effects.China’s tech giants have been locked in an intensifying giveaway battle before the Lunar New Year, one of the year’s most critical shopping periods, to attract users for their services, especially AI apps.