Baidu Takes Big Step to Catch Up by Making Ernie AI Bot Free
This article is for subscribers only.
Baidu Inc. has taken the unprecedented step of declaring its Ernie AI chatbot free for users, a move that could help the Chinese search giant regain momentum in a race to develop next-generation artificial intelligence.
Its chatbot — modeled on OpenAI’s ChatGPT — will be free for all individual users starting April, the company said in a WeChat post Thursday. Baidu’s stock extended gains in Hong Kong to climb more than 12%, its biggest intraday gain since October.