London, Feb 23 (IANS): US financial services major, JPMorgan Chase, has restricted employees from using ChatGPT, developed by OpenAI, as the buzzy AI chatbot explodes in popularity.

The bank did not restrict the use of the popular artificial intelligence chatbot due to any specific incident. It was unclear how many employees used the chatbot or for what purposes, reports The Wall Street Journal, citing sources.

Moreover, apart from JPMorgan, other organisations have also blocked access to ChatGPT.

Last week, US-based Verizon Communications blocked the chatbot from its corporate systems, saying it could lose ownership of customer information or source code that its employees typed into ChatGPT.

During the first week of January, public schools in New York City banned the chatbot from their networks and devices, said the report.

Earlier this week, China slammed ChatGPT, saying it is spreading US government "misinformation" and directing Internet companies not to use it in their applications.

Chinese regulators told Tencent and Ant Group, the fintech affiliate of Alibaba Group, not to offer ChatGPT services to the public, reports Nikkei Asia.

The release of ChatGPT by OpenAI triggered the launch of similar products by some companies.

Earlier this month, Google launched Bard, a conversational AI service, in an effort to keep up with OpenAI.

Meanwhile, OpenAI has launched its paid subscription plan for ChatGPT.

The new subscription plan, ChatGPT Plus, will be available for $20 a month, and subscribers will receive a number of benefits.