Baidu, the leading search engine in China, has announced the launch of the Ernie Bot, a chatbot powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI), officially entering competition with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which is backed by Microsoft.
Baidu’s AI Robot at its headquarters in Beijing, China. (Photo credit: REUTERS).
During a video event announcing Ernie Bot, Baidu’s CEO Robin Li stated that the chatbot is not yet fully developed, but the company has chosen to launch it in light of the current high demand. According to CEO Li, the name “Ernie” in Ernie Bot stands for “Enhanced Representation of Knowledge Integration.”
Li noted that over the past decade, Baidu has persistently invested in AI, and Ernie Bot is the result of years of effort. The first version of Ernie Bot was developed back in 2019. Li revealed that 650 companies have registered to use Ernie Bot, which is touted to be applicable across various fields such as search, AI cloud services, autonomous driving, and smart devices.
Baidu launched Ernie Bot several months after OpenAI debuted ChatGPT, showcasing remarkable capabilities of an AI-equipped chatbot capable of answering questions and even writing essays. In China, besides Baidu, several other companies are developing similar chatbots. In February, Baidu first mentioned Ernie Bot when it announced that the internal testing phase of the chatbot was nearing completion.
In recent years, Baidu has shifted its focus towards the AI sector, including activities related to self-driving technology and other AI applications. In its fiscal year 2022 report, the company invested 23.3 billion yuan (approximately 3.4 billion USD) in research and development in this field, which represents about 20% of its annual revenue.
However, the announcement event for Ernie Bot, conducted via video, somewhat disappointed audiences who were expecting a live demonstration showcasing the bot’s impressive capabilities. Following the event, Baidu’s stock dropped by 10%, closing the trading session with a decrease of 6.4%.
