Baidu announced that its AI chatbot, “Ernie Bot,” has exceeded 200 million users, marking a significant milestone in its bid to maintain its position as China’s leading ChatGPT-like chatbot amidst intensifying competition.
The user base has doubled since December, with the chatbot being available to the public for eight months.
CEO Robin Li disclosed that Ernie Bot’s application programming interface (API) is utilized 200 million times daily, indicating its widespread adoption for various tasks by users.
The number of enterprise clients for the chatbot has reached 85,000, underscoring its appeal in the business sector.
Ernie Bot began generating revenue for Baidu in February, leveraging AI to enhance advertising services and assist other companies in developing their own models.
While Ernie Bot was the first locally developed ChatGPT-like chatbot announced in China last March, it only received approval for public release in August, becoming one of the initial eight AI chatbots approved by Beijing.
Despite Ernie Bot’s success, it faces stiff competition from domestic rivals, notably the “Kimi” chatbot from Alibaba-backed startup Moonshot AI.
Recent data indicates that Kimi is rapidly gaining ground, with its visits increasing by 321.6% in March compared to February. In comparison, Ernie Bot experienced a growth of over 48% during the same period.
Although Chinese generative AI services still lag behind their Western counterparts, efforts to accelerate approvals for AI services signal China’s determination to compete in the global tech arena.
Last week, state media reported that 117 large AI models had received approvals, reflecting the government’s prioritization of AI development as a strategic imperative in the technological race against the United States.
