Baidu, a Chinese search engine and artificial intelligence startup, released its ChatGPT-equivalent language model, Ernie Bot, to the general public on Thursday.
Baidu, a Chinese search engine and artificial intelligence startup, released its ChatGPT-equivalent language model, Ernie Bot, to the general public on Thursday. The news caused the company’s stock price to increase by more than 3%.
Beijing hopes to overtake the United States as the world leader in artificial intelligence by the year 2030. After U.S. company OpenAI released the hugely successful ChatGPT, Chinese technology companies hurried to present their own generative AI models, in which algorithms enable the technology to develop and create new content.
Ernie Bot, which creates text and images in response to inquiries and instructions from users, is completely accessible to the general public via the official website and an app that is exclusively offered in China’s app stores, according to a statement from Baidu on Thursday.
The Ernie Bot app by Thursday afternoon had become the most popular free software on Apple’s iOS store in China.
According to Baidu CEO Robin Li, by making the model available to the public, Baidu will be able to get a ton of actual, human feedback that will help the company improve both Ernie and its underlying models.
China has attempted to control the generative AI business recently, just like Europe has. China released AI laws on August 15 that demand businesses do security reviews and get permissions before making their products widely available.
Beijing further demands that businesses offering these generative AI services abide by government requirements for technology and information.
There are presently no restrictions in effect in the United States. In the company’s earnings call earlier in August, Baidu CEO Li expressed optimism and referred to the AI laws as “more pro-innovation than regulation.”
Baichuan and Zhipu AI, two other Chinese AI businesses, also unveiled their AI language models on Thursday.
With its headquarters in Beijing’s Haidian District, Baidu, Inc. is a Chinese global technology corporation with a focus on Internet-related services, goods, and artificial intelligence.