Baidu, the largest and most important tech company in China, halted activity for a public demonstration of their take on OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Ernie AI, earlier today. The event was called off at the very last moment and instead took place behind closed doors with only a select group of tech firms invited. This move comes as experts believe the action was done under pressure from the Chinese government.
Baidu announced earlier during Monday that they had made a decision to switch the event up to a more private setting to accommodate the massive demand that Ernie had caused. With the astounding 120,000 companies that were queuing up to give their input on the chatbot, Baidu saw it best to make the event more intimate. Ernie AI was revealed by Baidu earlier in the month, with many of its rivals also releasing their own version of OpenAI’s leading ChatGPT.
Baidu’s stock underwent a fall after a pre-recorded video showcasing Ernie was released, with CEO Robin Li mentioning the artificial intelligence-powered bot’s lack of features compared to the GPT-4 upgrade. However, the stock saw much improvement as soon users started to take to social media and talk about the platform itself.
The Chinese government has expressed their attempt to improve the nation’s AI development, with Beijing’s considerable regulations on the internet acting as a major speedbump. This has caused some issue, as the chatbot needs substantial sources of info to be able to respond as if it were actually human speaking. But reportedly, with local providers such as Ernie, much success has actually been seen in China’s market.
As a leading tech software company, Baidu is often described as a Chinese Google, as they hold quite a lot of similarities. They are of course also the most influential search engine provider within the country’s borders, and other businesses that both the companies are involved in are also recorded to have close resemblances.
Apart from the global business, Baidu is also a platform for global entrepreneurs, providing products and services such as maps, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, video, and consumer goods. Founder, Robin Li, is no stranger to the tech industry, having started the now-infamous consumer-oriented search engine Baidu from the comfort of his home back in 2000.
Ever since then, Baidu has become the backbone of the Chinese technology industry, offering customers from all around the world cutting-edge services. All in all, the Chinese tech giant have once again shown their power in the tech industry, this time being with their take on OpenAI’s classic ChatGPT.
