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- Chinese search giant Baidu has unveiled the latest version of its Ernie generative AI model.
- The company says that it is a match for GPT-4, the large language model behind OpenAI's ChatGPT AI.
- Chinese AI firms are racing to catch up with Western rivals as the US cuts off AI chips supply.
Chinese AI companies are racing to match ChatGPT — and now, one says it has a chatbot that can go toe-to-toe with OpenAI's GPT-4 model.
Chinese search giant Baidu unveiled the latest version of its generative AI model, known as Ernie 4.0, on Tuesday, with cofounder Robin Li saying that it was now as good as GPT-4, the large language model that powers OpenAI's record-setting chatbot.
At an event in Beijing, Li demonstrated the advanced abilities of its Erniebot chatbot powered by Ernie 4.0, getting it to solve a complex math problem and write a martial arts novel. The chatbot is now also able to provide video and audio responses — unlike OpenAI's GPT-4, which currently only generates text responses.
"Ernie is not inferior in any respect to GPT-4," said Li, in comments reported by Bloomberg.
"Ernie 4.0 has achieved a full upgrade with drastically improved performance in understanding, generation, reasoning, and memory," he added in an emailed statement to Insider.
"These four core capabilities form the foundation of AI-native applications and have now unleashed unlimited opportunities for new innovations."
Baidu is hoping that integrating the chatbot into its search and mapping products will help give it an edge over domestic rivals like Tencent and Alibaba, and allow it to compete with US tech giants like OpenAI and Microsoft.
The initial demonstration of the Erniebot in March proved disappointing, with investors wiping $3 billion in value off Baidu's stock price after the company showed off its new AI model with a heavily scripted demo.
Chinese AI companies face challenges not shared by their American rivals, including strict rules set by the Chinese government and US sanctions on vital microchips.
Last week, China published a blacklist of sources that can be used to train generative AI, which included anything that might "damage the country's image," and said that companies developing AI models must adhere to the "core values of socialism."
Ernie was developed firmly within these guidelines, with Bloomberg reporting that the chatbot described Taiwan as part of China and said that a Chinese military takeover of the contested island is possible.
Meanwhile, the US has imposed sweeping restrictions on the export of AI chips such as Nvidia's H100, which is vital for training and running large AI models, to China as it seeks to keep the powerful technology out of the hands of the country's military.