The retained GPTOnline cover is an editorial design accompanying this October 2023 report; its presentation photograph does not independently establish an event date or model performance.
At Baidu World on October 17, 2023, Baidu co-founder and CEO Robin Li presented ERNIE 4.0 as a competitor to OpenAI’s GPT-4. His comparison was a company claim, not an independent finding that the models performed equally across tasks.
Li showcased Ernie 4.0’s capabilities during an event held at a repurposed steel mill in Beijing. The demonstration included a Q&A session where Ernie was tasked with providing responses and solving complex puzzles spontaneously. According to Li, Ernie now matches the level of sophistication and general capabilities of OpenAI’s groundbreaking product.
The original October 2023 report cited over 45 million ERNIE Bot users and an estimated 180 million ChatGPT users. Those historical figures should not be read as current totals or necessarily comparable active-user measurements. However, it’s worth noting that the US bot had a head start. As China’s leading search engine, often compared to Google, Baidu is banking on AI technology to outperform its competitors, including tech giants like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd.
After witnessing the transformative potential of generative AI through ChatGPT — known for generating text in response to prompts — Baidu spearheaded aggressive investments in the field across China. The company is considered a frontrunner in the race to develop a next-gen platform for the world’s largest internet market, competing against domestic tech firms and a slew of startups.
However, challenges loom ahead for Baidu and its cohorts. Baidu faced competition from American AI developers, including OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google. ChatGPT and DALL·E were OpenAI products, not Google products. Additionally, US sanctions limiting China’s access to advanced chips necessary for AI model training and operation, coupled with Beijing’s stringent censorship laws, could hinder their progress.
The original report quoted Li as saying ERNIE was not inferior to GPT-4. That promotional comparison is best distinguished from independently reproduced benchmark results.
Evaluating AI models poses its own set of challenges due to their inherent complexity. Yet, Li was eager to demonstrate Ernie Bot’s capabilities in real-time during the event, asking it to solve math problems, provide property buying advice, and even pen a novel set in an ancient martial arts world.
Baidu has integrated Ernie into several flagship products, including search, maps, file-sharing, work collaboration, and data analytics. The company hopes that Ernie Bot will become a core part of its business operations, helping it regain users lost to all-purpose apps run by TikTok-owner ByteDance Ltd. and Tencent.
With the Chinese government’s clear endorsement of generative AI technology — a potential game-changer for various industries and the economy at large — Baidu stands to gain significantly. In August, China greenlighted the first batch of generative AI services for domestic release, featuring products from both emerging players and major tech companies like Baidu and ByteDance. Despite being briefly eclipsed by mainstay services like Tencent’s WeChat, Ernie Bot quickly gained popularity, surpassing one million users on its launch day.
Historical launch context: Baidu’s October 17, 2023 announcement described ERNIE 4.0 access for invited ERNIE Bot users and enterprise API testing by application. It also described text, image, and video demonstrations within Baidu’s system. Separately, OpenAI’s September 2023 ChatGPT announcement concerned voice conversations and image understanding. These product capabilities should not be conflated.
