Chinese Internet search giant Baidu Inc (百度) yesterday released a new artificial intelligence (AI) reasoning model and made its AI chatbot services free to consumers as ferocious competition grips the sector.
Technology companies in China have been scrambling to release improved AI platforms since start-up DeepSeek (深度求索) shocked its rivals with its open source and highly cost-efficient model in January.
In a post on WeChat, Baidu announced the launch of its latest X1 reasoning model — which the company claims performs similarly to DeepSeek’s but for lower cost — and a new foundation model, Ernie 4.5.
Photo: AFP
Baidu also made its AI chatbot Ernie Bot free for individual users more than two weeks ahead of schedule. Previously, users had to pay a subscription to access the company’s latest AI models via Ernie Bot.
Ernie 4.5 “outperforms” US-based OpenAI’s GPT-4.5 model in “multiple benchmarks,” while Ernie X1 features “enhanced capabilities in understanding, planning, reflection and evolution,” Baidu said.
The Beijing-based company was one of China’s first to roll out a generative AI platform publicly, in 2023, but rival chatbots from companies such as TikTok owner ByteDance Ltd (字節跳動) and Moonshot AI Technology Co (月之暗面) have since gained more users.
Baidu faces stiff competition in the consumer-facing AI sector where DeepSeek shook up the industry at home and abroad with a model that performed comparably to competitors such as US-made ChatGPT, but cost much less to develop.
Last month, WeChat owner Tencent Holdings Ltd (騰訊) released a new AI model that it claimed answers queries faster than DeepSeek, even as it incorporated its rival’s technology into its messaging platform.
The same month, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴), which has partnered with Apple Inc to develop AI for the US company’s phones in China, said it would invest 380 billion yuan (US$52.5 billion) in AI and cloud computing over the next three years.
Alibaba this month also released a new version of its AI assistant app powered by its open-source Qwen reasoning model.
Taichung reported the steepest fall in completed home prices among the six special municipalities in the first quarter of this year, data compiled by Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋) showed yesterday. From January through last month, the average transaction price for completed homes in Taichung fell 8 percent from a year earlier to NT$299,000 (US$9,483) per ping (3.3m²), said Taiwan Realty, which compiled the data based on the government’s price registration platform. The decline could be attributed to many home buyers choosing relatively affordable used homes to live in themselves, instead of newly built homes in the city’s prime property market, Taiwan Realty
The government yesterday approved applications by Alphabet Inc’s Google to invest NT$27.08 billion (US$859.98 million) in Taiwan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement. The Department of Investment Review approved two investments proposed by Google, with much of the funds to be used for data processing and electronic information supply services, as well as inventory procurement businesses in the semiconductor field, the ministry said. It marks the second consecutive year that Google has applied to increase its investment in Taiwan. Google plans to infuse NT$25.34 billion into Charter Investments Ltd (特許投資顧問) through its Singapore-based subsidiary Fructan Holdings Singapore Pte Ltd, and
JET JUICE: The war on Iran’s secondary effects have seen fuel prices skyrocket, knocking flight schedules down to earth in return as airlines struggle with costs Airline passengers should brace for more irritation in the next few months as carriers worldwide cancel flights and ground planes to cope with stratospheric increases in jet-fuel prices. Dutch flag carrier KLM is the latest company to cut its schedule, saying on Thursday that it would scrap 80 return flights at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport in the coming month. That puts it in the same league as United Airlines Holdings Inc, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, which have all pruned itineraries to mitigate costs. Global capacity for next month has been reduced by about 3 percentage points, with all
The US said it plans to help build a first-of-its-kind industrial hub in the Philippines to boost production of inputs crucial to US supply chains. The 4,000-acre hub is intended to be “a purpose-built platform for allied manufacturing” and “an investment acceleration hub where the specific industrial activities are shaped by market demand,” the US Department of State said on Thursday. The project — touted as an “economic security zone” — would be within the Luzon Economic Corridor, a flagship economic project backed by the US and Japan on the main Philippine island. The project was also described as “the first artificial intelligence
RSS