BEIJING, March 27 (Portal) – Chinese search engine Baidu (9888.HK) on Monday shared pre-recorded videos of its AI-powered chatbot Ernie, which, among other things, summarizes financial reports and creates PowerPoint presentations.
According to images shared by a Baidu spokesperson in a media-facing group on WeChat, China’s most widely used messaging service, the Chinese chatbot has a broader range of capabilities than when it was launched nearly two weeks ago.
Back then, the ChatGPT-like product was shown to be capable of generating images with text prompts, composing poetry, and producing audio in Chinese dialects.
Videos shared Monday show the chatbot, powered by generative artificial intelligence (AI), creating itineraries and virtual human-like live streamers who can promote products with scripts tailored to the user’s needs.
These videos are from a private meeting hosted by Baidu’s AI Cloud division for the first group of companies testing an industry-focused version of the chatbot.
The meeting was originally intended to be a livestream product launch open to the media and public, but the format was changed to prioritize “strong demand” from over 120,000 companies who applied to test the Ernie bot, the company said in a statement Monday morning, adding it would be the first of many closed-door meetings.
However, the change caused Hong Kong-listed Baidu shares to fall as much as 4.5% as of Monday morning.
More companies can sign up to try the industry-focused version of the Ernie bot starting March 31, while the regular version of the app remains open for testing to users lucky enough to receive invite codes.
Tests conducted by Portal show that the regular version has a good command of the Chinese language, but makes factual errors and avoids answering political questions.
The Ernie bot, so far China’s closest answer to the US-developed ChatGPT, was launched March 16 by Baidu CEO Robin Li, who delivered a livestream presentation that walked journalists through a series of pre-recorded demos showing the different capabilities of the Chinese chatbot.
The company’s share price fell while the presentation was still being livestreamed, but rebounded the following day, partly due to strong demand from China’s corporate sector.
Reporting by Eduardo Baptista; Edited by Muralikumar Anantharaman, Jamie Freed and Sharon Singleton
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