China’s response to ChaptGPT was unveiled today to mixed reception. We’ve all pretty much heard everything there is to know about ChatGPT since it’s been in the hands of the general public and been at the center of conversation globally. Its growing popularity has driven companies and startups to integrate it into their systems as quickly as possible.
Whether or not they’re cautious in their rat race to integrate AI is a whole other debate, but for now, we’ve gotten to know a new chatbot with a particularly sweet name: Ernie Bot. This new player in the field of AI will be integrated into various applications.
Ernie’s name is short for “Enhanced Representation through Knowledge Integration” and can perform a variety of tasks, such as solving basic math problems, writing poems, and creating pictures and videos. Baidu plans to integrate Ernie into its search engine, which is widely used in China. According to Reuters (opens in a new tab)other applications could be included such as cloud computing, smart cars and home appliances.
According to Baidu, Ernie Bot is already available to some users, who gain access through special invite codes. Companies wishing to use the robot’s services can do so through Baidu’s cloud platform.
Right off the bat, Ernie seems to beat ChatGPT in terms of features, at least on paper. However, the introduction of the chatbot was not very well received in the market. Indeed, the limited presentation of the bot at launch drew a lot of backlash, with most of the items shown being based on pre-recorded videos rather than “live” demos.
The presentation consisted of five videos of Ernie Bot answering questions about a famous Chinese science fiction novel titled “The Three-Body Problem” and summarizing the story of the book. Ernie Bot also used his math skills and created a lecture poster using text prompts.
Robin Li, CEO of Baidu, said “surely they can’t say it’s perfect” when introducing Ernie Bot and added, “Why are we unveiling it today? Because the market demands it”. Li is certainly right on this point, the demand for AI-powered chatbots like Ernie Bot and ChatGPT has never been greater and no one wants to be last in line.
Unfortunately, the company’s shares fell 10% as CEO Robin Li spoke, slashing the tech giant’s market valuation by more than $3 billion, a surprisingly poor reaction to the presentation. .
This can be attributed to the “sterile” nature of the presentation, which attendees found rather scripted, and the lack of a launch date may have shaken some people’s faith in Ernie Bot.
Hopefully Baidu will go back to its drawing board to come back strong. The capabilities shown during the presentation are incredibly impressive, and the ambitious levels of integration give hope that Ernie Bot could be a game-changer on the AI scene.
So far, the AI space has been dominated by English-speaking countries, so AI technology coming from non-Western countries would be a sight to behold, and this international development would allow the technology to grow. flourish.