In a bold move, Chinese tech leader Baidu has announced that its state-of-the-art artificial intelligence model, Ernie, will be open-sourced starting June 30. This significant shift in strategy comes at a time when competition in the AI sector is intensifying.
Baidu’s CEO, Robin Li, who had previously advocated for closed-source models as the superior approach to AI development, has had to reassess his stance in light of the emergence of DeepSeek. This startup has disrupted the industry by offering open-source AI services that rival the performance of advanced systems from U.S.-based pioneer OpenAI but at a lower operational cost.
Eager to expand its market presence, Baidu has also revealed plans to offer its AI chatbot, Ernie Bot, for free beginning April 1, approximately eighteen months after launching premium versions. While Baidu was among the early Chinese companies to heavily invest in AI after the introduction of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in 2022, its Ernie large language model has faced challenges in gaining widespread adoption. The company asserts that its current iteration, Ernie 4.0, is on par with OpenAI’s GPT-4 capabilities.
In terms of user engagement in China, ByteDance’s Doubao chatbot leads the pack with 78.6 million active monthly users, followed by DeepSeek with 33.7 million and Ernie Bot with 13 million, as reported by AI product tracker Aicpb.com based on January data.
“We will gradually unveil the Ernie 4.5 series in the upcoming months and officially make it open-source by June 30,” Baidu announced in a WeChat post. Li, appearing to have shifted his perspective on open-source development, explained at an event in Dubai that opening up technology could accelerate AI adoption. “When things are made accessible, curiosity drives people to explore, ultimately accelerating the spread of technology,” he remarked.
Additionally, Baidu is gearing up to introduce its next-generation model, Ernie 5, in the latter half of 2025, according to an individual familiar with the matter.
(Reporting by Liam Mo and Brenda Goh; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
