BEIJING – Chinese tech giant Baidu (9888.HK) announced on Thursday that its AI chatbot, Ernie Bot, will be available for free starting April 1, citing advancements in technology and reduced operational costs.
The AI service will be accessible to all users on both desktop and mobile platforms, Baidu confirmed in a WeChat post.
Baidu faces increasing competition in China’s AI sector, particularly from DeepSeek, which offers free AI chatbot services and claims performance comparable to OpenAI’s advanced models at a lower cost.
Despite being an early AI adopter following OpenAI’s ChatGPT launch in 2022, Baidu has struggled to achieve widespread adoption for its Ernie large language model. However, the company asserts that its latest version, Ernie 4.0, is on par with OpenAI’s GPT-4.
According to AI product tracker Aicpb.com, Baidu’s AI adoption lags behind domestic rivals such as ByteDance’s Doubao chatbot and newcomer DeepSeek.
In late 2023, Baidu introduced premium AI-powered search features, including Ernie 4.0, charging 59.9 yuan ($8.18) per month.
Additionally, Baidu announced on Thursday that it will launch an advanced search function, also free from April 1, offering enhanced reasoning capabilities and tool integration for expert-level responses.
