According to Baidu CEO Robin Li Baidu will release its AI generative language model Ernie bot in March. However, specific dates regarding when it will be available remains unknown, but it could come "very soon". It is very likely that only Baidu's users (those owning a Baidu account) will have access to Ernie.
Although Ernie has been broadly adopted by Baidu services, it has yet to open for the public.
Li previously announced that the company will launch Ernie Bot in March. The large language model was first introduced in 2019 and has been updated to the third generation. As OpenAI's ChatGPT draws broad attention, Baidu is also jumping on the bandwagon and preparing to launch Ernie.
During the call last month, Li said Ernie will be much more suitable for Chinese users as the language model understands Chinese culture better than Western models do.
Baidu has developed a full-stack technology for AI from chips, technology, platform to applications. The company said its AI service is trained by billions of user searches and feedback through Baidu's diverse services.
In August 2022, the company launched Wenxin Yige, an AI-generated art creation platform that can generate images of different art styles, as one of the applications of Ernie. Other applications include AI-generated digital humans working as virtual AI assistant, who have made many appearances at Baidu's annual events.
One of the digital humans, Du Xiaoxiao, participated in China's National College Entrance Examination (Gaokao) last year and wrote an essay.
Updated on March 9
Du Xiaoxiao, Baidu's digital human as virtual AI assistant Credit: Baidu
