Chinese AI Advances: Baidu Offers Free Chatbot and Alibaba Partners with Apple

The realm of Chinese artificial intelligence is witnessing impressive advancements as Baidu and Alibaba make significant moves in the industry this week.

Baidu's Free Ernie Bot Launch

Baidu, a leading tech company in China, announced on Thursday that it will offer its Ernie Bot chatbot for free starting April 1st. This move is set to enhance accessibility to its AI tool, which is based on the ERNIE 4.0 model released in 2023. While the specifics of the training data behind the model remain undisclosed, Baidu has asserted that it competes effectively with other popular models like GPT-4. The company has also introduced the ERNIE 4.0 Turbo model, again without divulging training details. Despite this lack of information, the bot has gained immense popularity, attracting over 430 million users and handling more than 1.5 billion API calls daily as of November 2024.

Previously, users were charged around $8 per month for accessing Ernie Bot. The upcoming free version will introduce a feature known as 'Deep Search'. Baidu describes this feature as providing advanced capabilities in planning, thinking, and tool-calling, which aims to deliver high-quality content responses for various scenarios.

Why is Baidu opting to provide this service for free? One reason is its successful user engagement and the desire to maintain this momentum domestically and globally. Additionally, the shift in user preferences is significant; as AI-assisted search becomes increasingly common, charging for the Ernie Bot could hinder user retention. The traditional search engine has been Baidu's cornerstone, and adapting to changing market trends is crucial.

During a trial attempt to use Ernie Bot, registration was required to access its features. The privacy policy indicated that Baidu collects a range of user data, including IP addresses, device information, and warns that personal information may be shared with third parties. It's advised for users to review these privacy terms before deciding whether to utilize the Ernie Bot service.

Alibaba Partners with Apple

Turning to Alibaba, the co-founder Jim Tsai made headlines this week while attending the "World Government Summit" in Dubai. During an engaging discussion, Tsai revealed that Alibaba's AI technology has been selected by Apple for its Apple Intelligence service in hardware distributed within China. This collaboration is particularly notable given China's strict regulations regarding citizen data being sent abroad, which could explain Apple's inability to use OpenAI's technology in its products as they do elsewhere. Instead, the company utilizes on-device models for its AI services.

Following this announcement, Alibaba's stock saw a surge, signaling investor confidence. Additionally, co-founder Jack Ma's recent appearance at company offices has bolstered positive sentiments. Ma had previously criticized some of the Chinese government policies in 2020, which led to his disappearance from the public eye. His comeback suggests a possible reconciliation between Ma, Alibaba, and the Chinese government.

This swift resurgence seems to place Alibaba back into favorable standings with investors and larger corporations like Apple.

AI, Baidu, Alibaba