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Chinese search engine giant Baidu introduced ‘Ernie Bot’ earlier this year. The company had said that its chatbot can handle industry-focused capabilities such as summarising financial statements and producing PowerPoint presentations. Fast forward to November, Baidu has launched a paid version of the ChatGPT-like chatbot.
Baidu is charging CNY 59.9 (approximately $8) per month for the paid version of Ernie bot. It was the first of many Chinese AI-powered chatbots that have been unveiled this year.
Ernie bot features
Baidu said that apart from summarising financial statements, the chatbot can produce travel itineraries “and virtual, human-like live streamers that can advertise products using scripts tailored to the user’s needs.”
Before the launch of the chatbot earlier this year, Robin Li, CEO of Baidu, said that its AI chatbot would create a “revolutionary” version of its popular search engine.
“Ernie Bot will … enhance the user experience and users will be much more dependent on us for all kinds of tasks and needs, therefore, significantly expand the market size of search (engines),” news agency Reuters quoted Li as saying.
He also added that Baidu’s online advertising will also be boosted by the integration of Ernie Bot into the search engine. Baidu’s main source of revenue is online advertising, and the company plans to build an AI ecosystem around Ernie.
Other chatbots in China
Other Chinese tech majors that have launched chatbots include Alibaba’s Tongyi Qianwen, SenseTime’s SenseChat and offerings from three AI start-ups, Baichuan Intelligent Technology, Zhipu AI and MiniMax.
Chinese conglomerates Tencent and Ant Group also launched their respective AI chatbots namely Hunyuan and Zhixiaobao 2.0 app, designed to give consumers financial tips.
Microsoft is using a poll to ask users why they want to download Google Chrome instead of using its own browser, Edge. The poll appears after users attempt to download Chrome and asks various questions about their reasons for wanting another browser. This is not the first time Microsoft has tried to deter users from downloading Chrome, as they have previously shown ads and banners criticizing Chrome and promoting Edge. Microsoft has also attempted to dissuade users from trying Google’s AI chatbot, Bard.
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