Chinese internet search giant Baidu will make its Ernie Bot service free to use from April 1, providing wider access to the company’s own artificial intelligence (AI) models, as competition in this nascent field heats up with the rise of innovative newcomers like DeepSeek.
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Beijing-based Baidu said users of Ernie Bot’s desktop and mobile versions will gain free access to its Ernie large language models (LLMs) on the back of “continued upgrades and inference cost reductions”, the company said in a statement on Thursday.
LLMs are the technology underpinning generative AI services like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Ernie Bot. In mainland China, the mobile version of Ernie Bot is marketed as “Wenxiaoyan”.
The Ernie Bot platform on Thursday launched a function called Deep Search, which has enhanced capabilities in thinking, planning and providing expert-level response across multiple scenarios. This feature will also be available for free from April 1.
Baidu’s latest initiative reflects heightened competition in China’s AI market, where start-up DeepSeek and internet peer Alibaba Group Holding have recently made big strides in the technology’s development and increased adoption. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.
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It also comes weeks after Baidu co-founder, chairman and chief executive Robin Li Yanhong forecast an exponential growth in AI apps in 2025.
