With the introduction of Ernie, China now also has its own ChatGPT alternative. However, the launch was not an overwhelming success.

To say that OpenAI triggered an AI craze with ChatGPT is an understatement. Since ChatGPT’s public launch last December, we’ve witnessed the birth of many competitors. This morning it was Baidu’s turn, says Chinese Google, to pitch its idea to the world.

The Chinese ChatGPT alternative goes by the name of Ernie Bot. This isn’t an ode to the famous character from Sesame Street, but an abbreviation for it Improved representation through knowledge integration. Like Microsoft, Baidu will use Ernie to process AI-generated queries in its search engine. During the demo, we saw that Ernie also has Dall-E-like abilities to turn text prompts into images and videos.

Lean debut

It wasn’t an all-round successful debut for Ernie. The kick-off event had little to do with some recorded presentations. In addition, CEO Robin Li insisted that the model is not yet flawless and does not see it as a “confrontation” with the United States. Shortly after launch, Baidu’s shares fell more than 10 percent.

Or maybe Tuesday night’s launch of GPT-4 set the bar too high for Ernie. The launch doesn’t flop as spectacularly as Google’s Bard. In addition to a painful error in the promo video, Google also went completely wrong at an event. The tech giant tried to compensate for this error this week with new AI functions for the workspace applications.

The ball is now back in Microsoft’s hands. Soon at 4 p.m. Microsoft will probably step on the gas again and unleash a new load of artificial intelligence on us. The event can be followed live on LinkedIn.