In early 2023, Baidu, China’s leading search engine, announced plans to launch a ChatGPT-style AI chatbot named “Ernie Bot.” The company aimed to complete internal testing by March and integrate the chatbot into its search services citeturn0search0turn0search1.
Ernie Bot was officially unveiled on March 16, 2023, by Baidu CEO Robin Li during a livestreamed presentation. The demonstration showcased the chatbot’s capabilities through pre-recorded demos citeturn0search8.
Initially, Ernie Bot was available to a limited number of users who applied for access codes citeturn0search16. By August 2023, Baidu and other Chinese tech firms launched their ChatGPT-style AI bots to the public, marking a new milestone in the global AI race citeturn0search4.
In November 2023, Baidu introduced a paid version of Ernie Bot, charging 59.9 yuan (approximately $8.18) per month citeturn0search5. However, in April 2024, Baidu announced that it would make Ernie Bot free amid rising competition in China’s AI market citeturn0search2.
As of April 2024, Ernie Bot had attracted over 200 million users, doubling its user base since December 2023. The chatbot’s API was conducting 200 million tasks daily, with 85,000 enterprise clients contributing to significant revenue through improved ad services and custom model development citeturn0news27.
Despite these advancements, Baidu faced challenges in gaining widespread adoption for its Ernie large language model, amid fierce competition from startups like DeepSeek citeturn0search12. In response, Baidu planned to open-source its next-generation models and offer free premium chatbot services to boost adoption citeturn0news26.
In February 2025, Baidu announced plans to launch the next generation of its AI model, Ernie, in mid-March, with improved capabilities in areas such as reasoning citeturn0search3.
For more information on Baidu’s AI developments, you can visit their official website: Ernie Bot Official Website.
