Baidu Plunges After Recorded Demo of AI Chatbot Disappoints
- China’s first answer to OpenAI’s red-hot bot debuted Thursday
- Beijing firm in lead in frenzied AI chatbot race in China
Baidu Inc. debuted China’s answer to ChatGPT via a recorded video, disappointing investors hoping for a real-time demo of the country’s highest-profile entry in a race to dominate transformative technology.
Billionaire founder Robin Li took to a Beijing stage to introduce his company’s “Ernie Bot,” a landmark moment for a search leader that’s struggled in recent years to revitalize growth. But instead of putting the service through its paces in real time, he talked over a scripted video of interactions with the AI. Baidu’s shares fell 6.4% in Hong Kong, wiping out about $3 billion of value.
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Baidu Plunges After Recorded Demo of AI Chatbot Disappoints