Baidu Inc. is planning to launch an artificial intelligence chatbot service similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT which, according to a person familiar with the matter, is likely to be China’s most prominent target in the race due to the public phenomenon. caused by this technology.
Baidu Inc. is planning to launch an artificial intelligence chatbot service similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT which, according to a person familiar with the matter, is likely to be China’s most prominent target in the race due to the public phenomenon. caused by this technology.
China’s largest search engine the company plans to launch a ChatGPT-style app in March, initially embedding it in its main search services, the person said, requesting anonymity when discussing personal information. The tool, whose name is yet to be decided, will allow users to get conversational-style search results just like OpenAI’s popular platform.
The company’s shares jumped as much as 5.8% following Bloomberg’s announcement. reportThe biggest intraday gain in nearly four weeks.
Baidu has spent billions of dollars researching AI in a years-long effort to transition from online marketing to deeper technology. The person said their Ernie system — a large-scale machine learning model that has been trained on data for years — will be the foundation of their upcoming ChatGPT-like tool. A Baidu representative declined to comment.
ChatGPT, OpenAI’s artificial intelligence tool, lit Internet since going public in November, attracting more than a million users within days and sparking debate about the role of AI in schools, offices, and homes. The company includes Microsoft Corp. are investing billions of dollars to try and develop real-world apps, while others are capitalizing on the hype to raise funds. Shares of Buzzfeed Inc. has more than doubled this month after it announced plans to incorporate ChatGPT into its content.
Baidu, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Tencent Holdings Ltd. and ByteDance Ltd. controls much of China’s internet. The search company is trying to revive growth in the mobile era, after falling behind larger rivals in areas like mobile advertising, video and social media. In addition to AI research, the search giant is also currently developing autonomous driving technology.
Baidu CEO Robin Li cited ChatGPT as an example of where the tech giant could lead in an internal talk in December, according to a transcript seen by Bloomberg News.
“I am delighted that the technology we are considering every day can capture the attention of so many people. It’s not easy,” he said. He warned that commercializing general AI by turning it into a “product that people need” could be a challenge.
ChatGPT also caught the interest of Chinese internet users, who liked that people elsewhere shared screenshots of surprising conversations with AI bots on local social media. That’s despite the heavily censored domestic internet being largely isolated from the rest of the world, a model that has helped companies like Baidu thrive on par with Google, Amazon and Facebook.
In addition to Baidu, a number of Chinese startups are also exploring general AI and have attracted investors such as Sequoia and Sinovation Ventures.
