Chinese tech giant Baidu to release next-generation AI model this year as DeepSeek shakes up market

Core Insights - Baidu plans to release its next-generation AI model, Ernie 5.0, in the second half of the year, amid increasing competition from new players like DeepSeek [1][3] - Ernie 5.0 will feature significant enhancements in multimodal capabilities, allowing it to process and convert various types of media, including text, video, images, and audio [2] - The AI landscape in China is rapidly evolving, with companies striving to innovate and compete against established U.S. firms like OpenAI [3] Company Developments - Baidu's CEO, Robin Li, highlighted that the inference cost of foundation models could be reduced by over 90% within a year, indicating a potential for increased productivity through cost reduction [4][5] - Baidu was the first major Chinese tech company to launch a ChatGPT-like chatbot, Ernie, in March 2023, but it has since faced stiff competition from other AI chatbots developed by startups and larger companies like Alibaba and ByteDance [5] - Year-to-date stock performance shows Baidu's shares have increased by 6%, while Alibaba's shares have surged by 33%, and Tencent's by approximately 4% [6]