Beijing, China |:
Baidu, the Chinese internet search giant, unveiled a new artificial intelligence reasoning model on Sunday and announced that its AI chatbot services would now be available for free, in response to the intense competition in the industry.
The tech industry in China has been witnessing a race to enhance AI platforms ever since the startup DeepSeek introduced its open-source and cost-effective model in January, catching its competitors off guard.
In a WeChat post, Baidu revealed the launch of its latest X1 reasoning model, which it claims to be as efficient as DeepSeek’s model but at a lower cost, along with a new foundational model called Ernie 4.5, which can be accessed through its AI chatbot, Ernie Bot.
Baidu also announced that these models would be available for free, a move that came earlier than scheduled. Previously, users had to pay a monthly subscription fee to access Baidu’s latest AI models.
While Baidu was one of the first companies in China to introduce a generative AI platform back in 2023, its chatbots have faced tough competition from rivals like ByteDance’s TikTok and Moonshot AI, which have gained popularity among users.
With the consumer-facing AI sector becoming increasingly competitive, especially after the success of DeepSeek, Baidu has been working on integrating DeepSeek’s R1 reasoning model into its search engine.
Other tech giants in China, like Tencent and Alibaba, have also been investing heavily in AI development. Tencent recently launched a new AI model that claims to provide faster responses than DeepSeek, while Alibaba announced a significant investment in AI over the next three years.
Alibaba also released an updated version of its AI assistant app powered by the open-source Qwen reasoning model. Following DeepSeek’s footsteps, Baidu has announced plans to make its Ernie AI models open-source from June 30.
(This article is generated from a syndicated feed and has been published without any edits by NDTV staff.)
