Baidu claims that the Ernie chatbot is as powerful as GPT-4

On October 17, Chinese Internet search giant Baidu released a new update of Ernie Bot . Company co-founder and CEO Robin Li said Ernie Bot 4 demonstrates impressive ability to understand and answer complex questions, from doing basic math to creating images.

“Ernie Bot completes a series of important updates in its ability to understand, remind, reason and remember. Its general capabilities are not inferior to GPT-4 ,” he said.

OpenAI’s GPT-4 or Google’s Bard are not officially deployed in China. In the absence of foreign representatives, domestic companies have launched more than 100 major language models this year. From traditional Internet companies like Baidu and Alibaba to hardware manufacturers like Vivo, Oppo, and Huawei, all are promoting AI products.

However, chatbots that operate similarly to ChatGPT are also in the sights of authorities. A number of new rules are introduced to ensure AI-generated content is appropriate to the domestic situation. This week, the Chinese government proposed measures to block the use of sensitive data to train large language models, of which more than 5% of content is considered illegal.

Mr. Li said that when asked about topics considered sensitive in China, Baidu’s Ernie Bot will end the conversation by suggesting another topic of conversation.

In June, Baidu also announced that their Ernie Bot 3.5 surpassed GPT 3.5 in some tests. The company even affirms that Chinese chatbots are superior in some content processed in Chinese.

Baidu began announcing the Ernie Bot test in March, then opened it to the public for testing in August, after receiving a “green light” signal from the government. Baidu chief technology officer Wang Haifeng said that Ernie Bot currently has more than 45 million users and 54,000 participating developers.

Khuong Nha (according to SCMP )