Baidu's Ernie Bot Surpasses 100 Million Users

Baidu's AI chatbot, known as Ernie Bot, has achieved a significant user milestone, surpassing 100 million users according to Wang Haifeng, the Chief Technology Officer at the Chinese internet giant. The AI-driven chatbot, akin to the widely recognized ChatGPT, has experienced a rapid surge in user numbers following its public release in August.

Evolution of Ernie Bot

Before becoming publicly accessible, Ernie Bot underwent a selective trial phase lasting over five months, where a limited number of users could explore and test the chatbot's capabilities. In March, Baidu partially unveiled the bot, which despite an underwhelming initial reception, provided the company with an early lead in China's burgeoning AI chatbot market, a space now teeming with competitors. Tech companies in China, regardless of size, are eagerly pursuing the development of their own generative AI chatbots.

Comparative Landscape

Ernie Bot's emergence comes in the wake of the late 2022 launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT, which quickly rose to global prominence as the world's fastest-growing software application in a mere six months. While Ernie Bot dominates among Chinese chatbots, according to a recent SuperCLUE ranking, it lags behind the latest version of ChatGPT with a rating difference of over 10 points.

Baidu, ErnieBot, AI