Baidu, the Chinese search giant, will “very soon” launch its own generative AI model called Ernie 3.5. According to Reuters, Ernie 3.5—a large language model (LLM)—will power Baidu’s ChatGPT-like chatbot, Ernie Bot, and help in upgrading its search engine.
This development comes after Baidu CEO "Robin Li" announced Ernie 3.5 at the Zhongguancun Forum, one of China's well-known technology forums. The official word comes a couple of months after Ernie Bot was first shown to the public.
Baidu, just a couple of months ago, launched its Ernie bot to a mixed reception. Reuters notes that after the mixed reviews, Baidu has kept its products, including the Ernie Bot and Ernie 3.5 LLM, in a ‘trial mode.’
Baidu’s Ernie bot :
Li launched the Ernie bot on March 16 as China's answer to ChatGPT which is developed by US-based OpenAI. During the announcement, Li gave a presentation and walked the viewers through a series of pre-recorded demos. These demos displayed the various capabilities of the AI chatbot.
Later, a Baidu spokesperson shared a few more images of the Ernie bot in a group on China's most widely used messaging service, WeChat. These images showed the Chinese chatbot has a wider range of skills than the version that was launched earlier this year.
Since the launch, the Ernie Bot and other products powered by the company's generative AI LLM have remained in trial mode. However, Baidu invited a select number of companies and users to test the products and provide feedback.
Other Chatbots Details :
At a global level, America—with Microsoft-backed OpenAI—got the first movers advantage when it comes to generative AI after it launched ChatGPT back in November 2022. Microsoft, with its billion dollar investments in OpenAI, beat Google and other conglomerates at launching generative AI publicly first.
Later, Google revealed Bard—its own chatbot powered by LaMDA—which was later switched to PaLM 2 (unveiled at Google I/O 2023).
Witnessing the rapid growth from American companies, the Chinese search giant Baidu could be looking at evening the odds with its American counterparts as it doubles down on its artificial intelligence commitment with Ernie 3.5.
Geoffery Hinton, considered one of the pioneers of artificial intelligence, left his job at Google to openly discuss the risks associated with generative AI chatbots. However, he also clarified that he does not regret his involvement in developing generative AI at Google.
Speaking to BBC, Hinton claimed that “international competition would mean that a pause would be difficult” and “if everybody in the US stopped developing it, China would just get a big lead.”
