China’s Baidu Heats up the Competition, Launches Two New AI Models
The Chinese company has introduced two AI models into the competition to lead the AI industry.
China’s Baidu recently launched two new artificial intelligence models, including a new reasoning-focused modelthat it said rivaled DeepSeek's model, as it bids to stand out in a fiercely competitive race to dominate the AI industry.
Meeting Standards
Since the introduction of AI startup DeepSeek and its AI models, leading companies and their models have embraced the fierce competition. Exceptional models at a fraction of the cost have re-energized the global AI race.
Currently, the "ERNIE X1 delivers performance on par with DeepSeek R1 at only half the price," Baidu said of one of the new models. It also added that the X1 has "stronger understanding, planning, reflection, and evolution capabilities," stating that it is the first deep-thinking model that uses tools autonomously.
According to Baidu, its latest foundation model ERNIE 4.5 has "excellent multimodal understanding ability. It has more advanced language ability, and its understanding, generation, logic, and memory abilities are comprehensively improved." The company claims that the models have "high EQ", making it easy to understand network memes and satirical cartoons.
Competing with AI-Trend Setters
Baidu is one of China's earliest tech giants to launch a ChatGPT-style chatbot. However, it has struggled to gain widespread adoption for its Ernie large language model, despite claiming performance comparable to OpenAI's GPT-4, amid fierce competition.
Multimodal AI systems are capable of processing and integrating various types of data including text, video, images and audio, and can convert content across these formats.
