Baidu, the Chinese technology giant, released Ernie 4.0, the latest version of its generative artificial intelligence (AI) model, saying its capabilities were on par with those of ChatGPT manufacturer OpenAI’s pioneering GPT-4 model.

CEO Robin Li unveiled Ernie 4.0 at a Beijing event, emphasising the model’s memory capabilities and demonstrating it authoring a martial arts novel in real-time. He also demonstrated Ernie 4.0 making promotional posters and videos.

Analysts were underwhelmed. According to Lu Yanxia, an analyst at industry research IDC, the debut of Ernie 4.0 lacked substantial highlights compared to the previous edition.

Baidu’s Hong Kong shares dipped 1.32% in morning trading, trailing the Hang Seng Index’s 0.7% gain.

“We should see significant improvements once Ernie 4.0 is used hands-on, but concrete upgrades aren’t immediately clear,” Lu said.

Other significant revelations from the event, according to Lu, included Baidu’s integration of generative AI throughout all of its products, including Baidu Drive and Baidu Maps.

Li illustrated how Baidu Map now allows users to access functionalities with natural language queries powered by Ernie, whereas users previously had to search through thousands of possibilities.

Baidu, the owner of China’s largest internet search engine, is at the vanguard of AI models in China, amidst a global craze spurred by the release of ChatGPT last year.

In March, the company introduced ErnieBot, a chatbot powered by Ernie, but investors were dismayed to see just pre-recorded demonstrations.

Baidu was one of several companies that received regulatory authorisation to release AI products to the public in August. Ernie has 45 million users since it was made public, according to Baidu’s chief technology officer Wang Haifeng, who spoke at the occasion.

According to data from brokerage CLSA, China already possesses at least 130 large language models (LLMs), accounting for 40% of the global total and trailing only the United States’ 50%.

Beijing announced suggested security standards for companies selling AI-powered services last week, including a blacklist of sources that cannot be used to train AI models.

(Adapted from Business-Standard.com)