Javier Pastor
Senior WriterComputer scientist turned tech journalist. I've written about almost everything related to technology, but I specialize in hardware, operating systems and cryptocurrencies. I like writing about tech so much that I do it both for Xataka and Incognitosis, my personal blog.
U.S. companies and startups may dominate the AI race globally, but competition in China is fierce. DeepSeek’s impact in the country is undeniable, and Baidu knows it too well.
Ernie has been a closed, paid chatbot. Often called “China’s Google,” Baidu was among the first to launch a chatbot. It introduced Ernie in March 2023 and made it widely available by September. However, Baidu’s approach was clear: Its generative AI chatbot remained closed and required a paid subscription.
But soon, it will be free. This week, Baidu officials announced two major changes. First, starting April 1, Baidu will offer a free version. The company spent 17 months trying to monetize the service, which had a monthly price of 49.90 yuan (about $6.85) in China.
And open source, too. Baidu also confirmed that on June 30, the next generation of its Ernie LLM will use an open source license. That marks a major shift, as Baidu had previously relied on a proprietary model. Even OpenAI appears to be considering a similar move.
DeepSeek changes everything. This strategic pivot likely stems from DeepSeek’s rise. The Chinese startup launched DeepSeek V3 in November and DeepSeek R1 in January. These models, both free and open source, gained traction by proving competitive against leading U.S. LLMs. DeepSeek’s impact has been so profound that rivals are now offering their reasoning models for free.
Fierce competition in China. Baidu’s decision highlights the intensifying battle for AI dominance in China. Alibaba recently introduced the promising Qwen2.5-Max. ByteDance, the company behind TikTok, is emerging as a serious AI contender. Tencent and startups like Moonshot and o1.AI are also joining the race, even as their models must align with strict regulations.
The key is adoption. Baidu seems to recognize that user adoption is crucial. According to Reuters, China’s most popular chatbot is ByteDance’s Doubao, with 78.6 million monthly users. DeepSeek follows with 33.7 million, while Ernie lags at just 13 million.
Ernie 4.5 is coming, but what about reasoning? Baidu currently offers Ernie 4.0, which competes with GPT-4, and will soon launch Ernie 4.5 under an open-source license. However, it has yet to introduce a reasoning model like DeepSeek R1—a surprising gap for a tech giant with vast resources. Given the stakes, Baidu will likely move fast to avoid missing out on this rapidly evolving market.
Image | Alpha Photo
Log in to leave a comment