Beijing: Chinese search engine company Baidu has announced that its AI-powered chatbot, Ernie Bot, will be available for free starting next April. The AI service will be accessible to all computer and mobile phone users, opening up new opportunities for engagement with the chatbot technology.
According to Qatar News Agency, Baidu is facing increasing competition in the AI field in China, particularly from DeepSeek, which also offers AI-powered chatbot services for free. This move by Baidu is seen as a strategic effort to enhance its position in the competitive market.
The company has explained that the capabilities of its latest version, Ernie 4.0, are comparable to those of ChatGPT-4. Baidu was one of the first Chinese companies to enter the AI field following the launch of the ChatGPT chatbot by OpenAI in 2022. However, Baidu has faced challenges in achieving widespread adoption of the Ernie language model it is developing.