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Baidu launches Ernie Bot free, competing with rivals like DeepSeek, aiming to regain market leadership.
China’s largest internet search company, Baidu, has announced that it will offer the AI chatbot Ernie Bot for free starting April 1, as a result of the competition in the AI sector. Baidu said in a WeChat post that this service will be available free on both desktop and mobile. This decision was taken as a result of competing AI models, including those from evolving Chinese startup DeepSeek that gains power in the market.
The company made the announcement on WeChat hours after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced that ChatGPT users would have free, unrestricted access to GPT-5, while premium subscribers would have access to more refined features. In keeping with DeepSeek's strategy, Baidu announced on Friday that it would release the next version of its AI model by the end of June and make it open source for the first time. Additionally, in April, it will launch a free "Deep Search" feature that provides expert-level answers and improved reasoning.
Making Ernie Bot publicly accessible seems to be a calculated move by Baidu to keep away competition from both local and international firms. The new R1 AI model from DeepSeek has garnered a lot of interest since it offers performance on par with the top US industry players at a far lower price.
Following the announcement, Baidu's stock jumped as much as 12% in Hong Kong trading, closing Friday at 95 Hong Kong dollars ($12.20) per share. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index has increased by 20% since January as a result of the company's extraordinary performance. In the past, Baidu charged users 59.9 Yuan ($8.20) per month for Ernie Bot's premium features, which included AI-generated photos. Despite competition, the chatbot has 430 million users as of November 2024. The company Baidu is attempting to regain its status as a leading force in China's quickly changing AI market by making Ernie Bot free and open source.
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