Baidu Chatbot Gets Approval From Chinese Government, Introduces Slew of AI Applications
Key takeaways
- Baidu has launched ten new AI applications after the release of its Ernie chatbot last week
- The share price rose at the chatbot release, but has fallen back since
- Baidu isn’t without competitors in the space as more companies unveil similar AI chatbots and products
Baidu has been leading the charge in the Chinese AI space after the company got approval to launch its much-anticipated Ernie chatbot, first announced in March, last week. It’s already released ten more AI-powered apps and teased a new update to the Ernie chatbot — learn more about Baidu’s dizzying pace, and the impact on the stock price, below.
What’s the latest with Baidu’s Ernie chatbot?
Baidu’s chatbot got the go-ahead from the Chinese government and officially launched to the public last week, with the app soon jumping to the top of Apple’s app store in China. And Baidu isn’t hanging around — it’s already released over ten new AI-based apps using the same tech Ernie is based on.
Among the product launches was an AI-integrated word processing app named WPS AI. The tech behind Baidu’s AI surge is also supported by the tech conglomerate’s Qianfan cloud platform for AI models, which the business claims has over 10,000 corporate active monthly users. Baidu also announced over six million users have interacted with the AI-powered tech for its Google Drive rival.
The tech giant has also teased unveiling its new Ernie 4 chatbot, a new and upgraded version of the current Ernie, to be released soon.
How did Baidu stock react?
Baidu has the jump on Western tech companies because the likes of Microsoft-backed OpenAI, Google and Facebook are all blocked in China.
The tech titan’s share price rose 3% on the Hong Kong stock market when it was first released to the public a week ago, but yesterday’s slew of new AI-powered apps also sent the stock price down 1.5%.
But Baidu isn’t without competitors in the Chinese AI space. SenseTime also released a chatbot to the public on the same day, with the stock rising 2.3% then.
Start-ups Baichuan Intelligent Technology, Zhipu AI and MiniMax have also announced AI public launches; Alibaba just released two updated AI models. We’re having trouble keeping up.
The bottom line
It looks like the Chinese tech market is having the same generative AI rush we saw in the West nearly a year ago. The difference is that the Chinese government, which oversaw a big crackdown on tech in 2021, could introduce new regulations limiting the use of AI for the public at any time.
