The launch of Ernie Bot was not without its challenges, with Baidu's first demo using prerecorded videos disappointing investors. Baidu, along with several other AI companies, had to submit security assessments and prove compliance with China's generative AI guidelines before launching. These guidelines require companies to adhere to the core values of socialism and use only government-approved sources for training data for foundation models.
Key takeaways:
- Baidu has officially launched its chatbot, Ernie Bot, after receiving government approval. The bot is available for download from app stores or Baidu’s website.
- Ernie Bot can answer questions, help write market analysis, provide marketing slogan ideas, and summarize documents. However, it's unclear if the platform is available globally.
- Baidu plans to launch a suite of new AI-native apps that allow users to fully experience the four core abilities of generative AI: understanding, generation, reasoning, and memory.
- Under China’s generative AI guidelines, companies must adhere to core values of socialism, and all training data for foundation models has to come from sources deemed legitimate by the government.