China has approved more than 40 artificial intelligence (AI) models for public use in the first six months since authorities began the approval process, as the country strives to catch up to the U.S. in AI development, according to Chinese media. Chinese regulators granted approvals to a total of 14 large language models (LLM) for public use last week, Chinese state-backed Securities Times reported. It marks the fourth batch of approvals China has granted, which counts Xiaomi Corp (1810.HK), opens new tab, 4Paradigm (6682.HK), opens new tab and 01.AI among the recipients. Beijing started requiring tech companies to obtain approval from regulators to open their LLMs to the public last August. Beijing approved its first batch of AI models in August shortly after the approval process was adopted. Baidu (9888.HK), opens new tab, Alibaba (9988.HK), opens new tab and ByteDance were among China's first companies to receive approvals.