Chinese start-up Baichuan Unveils Advanced AI Assistant Powered by Upgraded LLM, Aims to Become AI Super App
Baichuan introduces Baichuan 4, the most advanced LLM by a Chinese business, outperforming US competition. Introduces the Baixiaoying AI assistant service, which aims to become an AI superapp. Baixiaoying's unique ability to guide users in asking accurate queries distinguishes it from local competition.
Beijing-based AI startup Baichuan has unveiled its most recent breakthrough, the Baichuan 4 model, which it claims is the most advanced large language model (LLM) established by a Chinese corporation. The Baichuan 4 LLM received the highest ranking on SuperCLUE, a benchmark test for Chinese LLMs.
In terms of Chinese language capabilities, Baichuan 4 outperforms the most recent LLMs from Microsoft-backed OpenAI and Amazon-backed Anthropic, the GPT-4 Turbo and Claude 3 Opus. These two US heavyweights debuted their LLMs in November and March, respectively, making Baichuan's achievement even more impressive.
During the unveiling occasion, Baichuan also announced its first AI assistant service, Baixiaoying. The company hopes that Baixiaoying will turn into an AI super app. Wang Xiaochuan, Baichuan's founder and CEO, highlighted the need of both a powerful LLM and a great app in driving the advancement of artificial general intelligence (AGI).
Baichuan, helmed by Wang Xiaochuan, who previously sold his search engine company Sogou to Tencent Holdings, intends to use the team's online search skills to compete in the Chinese AI chatbot industry. Baixiaoying, billed as "an AI assistant who knows how to search," distinguishes itself from local competitors such as Baidu's Ernie bot and Moonshot AI's Kimi by providing professional-level search capabilities and guiding users to ask appropriate inquiries.
During a demonstration, Baixiaoying demonstrated its capacity to handle a query about opening a blocked car bonnet, including follow-up queries on the vehicle model, before responding. In contrast, other local chatbots could only provide generic responses. This demonstrates Baixiaoying's unique ability to grasp user intentions and give more personalised solutions.
Prompt engineering, the act of structuring inquiries to ensure correct interpretation by AI models, has proven difficult for many users of chatbot services such as OpenAI's ChatGPT and Baidu's Ernie. Baichuan's chatbot strives to overcome this barrier by guiding and empowering users to effectively express their demands, making it easier for locals to connect with chatbots.
Wang Xiaochuan also commented on the recent pricing war between local AI startups, claiming that cheap prices alone are insufficient to obtain a competitive advantage in the market. This is in reaction to moves by ByteDance, Alibaba Group Holding, Baidu, and iFlyTek to lower pricing or provide free versions of their AI models.
Baichuan unveils Baichuan 4, the most advanced LLM by a Chinese company, surpassing US competitors
Introduces Baixiaoying AI assistant service, aiming to become an AI super app
Baixiaoying's unique ability to guide users in asking accurate questions sets it apart from local competitors
Source: SCMP