Chinese internet search giant Baidu on Tuesday reported a 50 per cent increase in artificial intelligence-related revenue in the three months ended September from a year ago, which was the bright spot to an otherwise lacklustre financial quarter.
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The Beijing-based company’s third-quarter revenue declined 7 per cent year on year to 31.2 billion yuan (US$4.4 billion), owing to sluggish demand in its advertising business, while its net loss hit 11.2 billion yuan on asset writedowns.
While its core advertising business struggled, the company said sales at its AI-related cloud infrastructure, applications and marketing services rose to 10 billion yuan, which laid “a solid foundation for sustainable long-term growth”, according to Baidu chief financial officer He Haijian.
This marked the first time that Baidu disclosed its AI businesses’ revenue growth in detail, which was expected to help investors get a better understanding of the scale of its AI operations and how investment in the technology was driving growth.
Baidu, one of China’s “national AI champions”, launched the mainland’s first ChatGPT-style chatbot app in early 2023. At present, it competes in China’s fast-growing AI market against internet peers such as Alibaba Group Holding, Tencent Holdings and ByteDance. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.
In a statement, Baidu co-founder, chairman and CEO Robin Li Yanhong said the company had “showed AI’s transformative value” across its portfolio.