Baidu is set to unveil the next iteration of its artificial intelligence model, Ernie 5.0, in the latter half of this year. The new model promises “big enhancements in multimodal capabilities,” marking a significant advancement in the technology’s ability to understand language and perform diverse tasks. Baidu’s strategic move underscores the intensifying race among Chinese tech giants to develop cutting-edge AI models that rival those from U.S. companies like OpenAI.
The current version, Ernie 4.0, debuted in October 2023, with an upgraded "turbo" version released in August 2024. These advancements have already integrated generative AI into a variety of Baidu's consumer and business-focused products. Notably, the Ernie model enhances Baidu's Wenku platform, which is utilized for creating presentations and documents. By the end of 2024, Wenku boasted 40 million paying users, a 60% increase from the previous year.
Baidu initially led the Chinese AI landscape by launching a ChatGPT-like chatbot named Ernie in March 2023. However, the model's momentum has waned due to competition from other Chinese startups and large tech firms. Baidu's stock has seen a modest rise of 6% this year, compared to Alibaba's impressive 33% surge and Tencent's 4% gain.
The planned introduction of Ernie 5.0 comes amid a fervent effort by Chinese companies to compete against American counterparts. OpenAI released GPT-4 in May 2024 but has not provided a timeline for GPT-5. Meanwhile, Hangzhou-based startup DeepSeek stirred the market in January with an open-source AI model praised for its reasoning capabilities and cost-effectiveness compared to OpenAI's ChatGPT.
Baidu CEO Robin Li highlighted the transformative potential of foundation models in the tech industry.
"We are living in an exciting time… The inference cost [of foundation models] basically can be reduced by more than 90% over 12 months," – Robin Li
Li further emphasized the link between cost reduction and productivity gains in innovation.
"If you can reduce the cost by a certain percentage, then that means your productivity increases by that kind of percentage. I think that's pretty much the nature of innovation," – Robin Li
Ernie 5.0 is poised to become a "foundation model," capable of understanding language and executing a wide range of tasks. This anticipated release signals Baidu's commitment to maintaining its position as a leader in AI technology, despite increasing competition both domestically and internationally.
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