Baidu launches two new versions of its AI model Ernie

Chinese language search engine Baidu has launched two new AI fashions — Ernie 4.5, the most recent model of the corporate’s foundational mannequin first released two years ago, in addition to a brand new reasoning mannequin, Ernie X1.

According to Reuters, Baidu claims that Ernie X1’s efficiency is “on par with DeepSeek R1 at solely half the value,”, and it touts Ernie 4.5’s “excessive EQ,” permitting the mannequin to grasp memes and satire. Each fashions have multimodal capabilities, permitting them to course of video, photos, and audio, in addition to textual content.

Whereas Baidu was one of many first Chinese language corporations to launch a competitor to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, it has reportedly struggled to search out widespread adoption. In the meantime, the aforementioned DeepSeek just lately unsettled American AI companies and traders by releasing fashions that had been seemingly simply as highly effective at a a lot decrease price.

CNBC beforehand reported that Baidu plans to release its next generation model, Ernie 5, later this yr, with additional multimodal enhancements.