Baidu Unveils Two New AI Models Amid Intensifying Industry Competition

Baidu has launched two new artificial intelligence models, including a reasoning-focused model that it claims rivals DeepSeek’s technology, as competition in the AI sector intensifies.

Credit: BLOOMBERG

Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has disrupted the industry by introducing models that it says match or surpass leading U.S. models at a lower cost, fuelling the global AI race.

Baidu said its new ERNIE X1 model delivers performance comparable to DeepSeek R1 at half the price. The company described X1 as having enhanced understanding, planning, reflection, and evolution capabilities. It is also the first deep-thinking model that can autonomously use tools, according to Baidu.

The company also introduced ERNIE 4.5, which it said has excellent multimodal understanding abilities. Baidu highlighted its advanced language skills, as well as improvements in understanding, generation, logic, and memory. The model also has "high EQ" and can interpret internet memes and satirical cartoons.

Baidu was one of the first Chinese tech firms to launch a ChatGPT-style chatbot. However, despite claiming that its Ernie large language model performs on par with OpenAI’s GPT-4, the company has struggled to achieve widespread adoption due to intense competition.

Multimodal AI systems can process and integrate various types of data, including text, video, images, and audio, and can convert content across these formats.

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• Baidu launched two new AI models, ERNIE X1 and ERNIE 4.5

• ERNIE X1 is a reasoning-focused model that Baidu claims rivals DeepSeek R1 at half the cost

• ERNIE 4.5 features improved multimodal understanding, language skills, and memory

Source: REUTERS