Baidu Unveils ChatGPT-Rival Ernie Bot; 650 Corporations Signal Up

HONG KONG (AP) — Chinese language search big Baidu unveiled its synthetic intelligence chatbot Ernie Bot, presenting its rival to the Microsoft-backed ChatGPT in a pre-recorded video presentation Thursday that appeared to disappoint buyers.

Baidu CEO Robin Li mentioned Ernie Bot was nonetheless not perfected, however the firm went forward with presenting it attributable to excessive demand. Shares plunged 10% after Li confirmed a prerecorded demonstration of the Ernie bot as an alternative of the real-time stay demonstration of its capabilities that many had anticipated. They closed down 6.4%.

Through the demonstration, Ernie Bot was requested questions on a Chinese language science-fiction novel, “The Three-Physique Drawback,” and was requested to make a picture based mostly on prompts.

The Ernie in Ernie Bot stands for “Enhanced Illustration of Data Integration.”

“Baidu has for over a decade persevered in investing in synthetic intelligence … Ernie Bot is the results of a few years of arduous work,” mentioned Li. He mentioned the primary model of Ernie Bot was developed in 2019.

Li mentioned 650 corporations had signed up to make use of Ernie Bot, which may be carried out in quite a lot of functions resembling searches, AI cloud, autonomous driving and in sensible units.

The Ernie Bot launch comes months after OpenAI’s ChatGPT was first launched, demonstrating the AI-chatbot’s capability in answering questions and even writing essays. Baidu is amongst a number of Chinese language corporations engaged on related chatbots.

In February, Baidu first talked about that the interior testing of its Ernie Bot was virtually full. The corporate, identified in China for its search engine, has shifted its focus in recent times to synthetic intelligence, together with engaged on autonomous driving expertise and different AI functions.

In its 2022 fiscal yr, the corporate says it spent 23.3 billion yuan ($3.4 billion) on analysis and growth, equal to a couple of fifth of its income.

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