Last week, Baidu – a China based artificial intelligence company – added more features to its mobile chatbot, ERNIE Bot App, now rebranded as Wenxiaoyan. Founded by Robin Li and Eric Xu in Beijing, the chatbot combines multiple functions that allow users to search for anything from music to map navigations, chat with the camera on, remember users’ preference, and schedule daily news written by AI. Per sources, the chatbot is already a favourite among young people for AI driven search engines, with 70% of its traction coming from this age group. In terms of its performance and adaptability, it has currently crossed the ten million monthly active users mark.
What are its features?
In addition to providing a personalised experience, it lets users schedule AI-generated content and receive search related responses from news outlets and blogs. With Baidu’s multimedia search, users can look up articles, images, maps, music, and more through text, speech, or images. It also includes advanced photo editing features and specialized LLM agents for expert advice in areas like travel and finance.
What does this mean for Baidu?
Touted as OpenAI’s challenger in China, Baidu, announced the integration of AI technology into its suite of products, including Baidu Search, Baidu GBI, Infoflow, Baidu Wenku, Baidu Maps, Baidu Drive, and its business intelligence offerings last year. At a time when platforms like Perplexity and SearchGPT, traditional search giants like Google and Baidu are including AI into their search engines.
