Baidu, the Chinese Google, is also working on an alternative to ChatGPT, and now, to Bard, the new AI from the Mountain View company similar to the one developed by OpenAI. As indicated Reutersthe Asian firm could launch its chatbot dubbed Ernie Bot next March, which is based on an artificial intelligence model developed by the firm itself in 2019.
Ernie, which the company says stands for “Enhanced Representation Through Knowledge Integration,” will be able to perform language comprehension tasks; ChatGPT’s star feature that allows users to ask questions to receive precise answers. Baidu’s AI will also integrate language generation functions. also of text to image generation; a feature also offered by models such as DALL-E 2 or IMAGE.
Baidu is expected to finish testing the aforementioned AI in March and officially launch it that same month, following a strategy similar to what Google has done with Bard. Ernie could get there first as a standalone appand later will be integrated into the company’s search engine. In this way, those people who make specific queries receive precise results through a chatbot.
Baidu will follow in Microsoft’s footsteps with ChatGPT
Baidu, yes won’t be the only company to integrate its AI into search results. Google also plans to implement Bard, its recently announced model based on a stripped-down version of LamDA, in its browser. Microsoft may also soon announce the availability of ChatGPT on Bing, so that users can receive more accurate answers when they search, and thus not only get results through links that redirect to a website.
Ernie Bot, however, could have a significant advantage over ChatGPT and Bard in China. Mainly because This type of technology developed by Western companies is usually censored in the country. Google, for example, does not offer most of its services. And while ChatGPT works in China, according to Bloombergit would not be strange if the government prohibits it soon.
Another advantage of Baidu’s AI is that results can be adapted to cultural nuancesAlthough this also has its disadvantages. Some AI models from other Chinese companies, for example, are not capable of rendering black or plus-size people. They don’t, because they haven’t been trained with these kinds of people. When users try, for example, to generate a caricature of a black person, the AI often turns them into offensive characters.