China’s leading tech company, Baidu, is preparing to launch a new version of its artificial intelligence (AI) model later this year.
Sources close to the matter suggest that this next iteration, Ernie 5.0, is expected to bring significant improvements in multimodal capabilities.
This development comes as newer AI players like DeepSeek shake up the market, challenging established giants such as OpenAI.
What is Ernie 5.0?
Ernie 5.0 is a “foundation model” that promises to offer major enhancements in its ability to process multiple forms of data. The key feature of this version is its multimodal abilities, which allow it to handle a range of media including text, videos, images, and audio.
This type of AI can convert content from one format to another—for instance, transforming text into video or vice versa.
A foundation model is a type of AI capable of understanding language and executing a variety of tasks, such as generating text and images or communicating naturally. These models are designed to be adaptable and efficient, offering a wide scope of functionality.
Rising Competition in the AI Landscape
Baidu’s upcoming AI release comes at a time when Chinese companies are intensifying their efforts to develop cutting-edge AI models to challenge the dominance of OpenAI and other tech giants from the United States.
In January 2024, DeepSeek, a startup based in Hangzhou, sparked a global tech stock sell-off when it unveiled its open-source AI model. DeepSeek’s innovation wowed users with its advanced reasoning capabilities and its ability to provide a cost-effective alternative to OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Baidu’s CEO, Robin Li, shared optimistic insights about the future of foundation models at the World Governments Summit in Dubai, where he mentioned that costs of inference for these models could drop by more than 90% within a year. Li highlighted how reducing these costs would increase productivity, stressing that this is the essence of technological innovation.
Baidu’s Position in the AI Race
Baidu was the first major Chinese tech company to roll out a ChatGPT-like chatbot, called Ernie, in March 2023. However, since its launch, Ernie has been overtaken by other Chinese AI chatbots, both from startups and large tech companies such as Alibaba and ByteDance.
While Alibaba‘s stock has surged by 33% this year, Baidu’s stock has only increased by 6%, reflecting the pressure from newer players in the market. Meanwhile, Tencent has seen modest growth of about 4% this year. Notably, ByteDance is not publicly traded.
Despite these challenges, Baidu’s Ernie model continues to make strides in integrating generative AI across its consumer and business products, including cloud storage and content creation tools. For example, Baidu’s Wenku platform, used for creating presentations and documents, reached 40 million paying users by the end of 2024, marking a 60% increase from the previous year.
Ernie’s Ongoing Evolution
The current version of Ernie, Generation 4, was launched in October 2023, followed by a turbo version, Ernie 4.0, in August 2024. Although Baidu has not officially confirmed the release date for Ernie 5.0, industry experts are eagerly awaiting its arrival.
Meanwhile, OpenAI continues to roll out improvements to its ChatGPT model, with the latest version, GPT-4o, debuting in May 2024. OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, recently stated during a Reddit AMA that GPT-5 does not yet have a public release timeline.
Key Dates for AI Model Updates
| Company | AI Model | Version | Release Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baidu | Ernie | Generation 4 | October 2023 |
| Baidu | Ernie Turbo | 4.0 | August 2024 |
| OpenAI | ChatGPT | GPT-4o | May 2024 |
| OpenAI | ChatGPT | GPT-5 | TBA |
Baidu’s Ernie 5.0 promises to bring powerful advancements in multimodal AI, positioning it as a key player in the competitive landscape dominated by companies like OpenAI.
With its focus on reducing costs and improving productivity, Baidu’s upcoming AI model is set to provide impressive functionality that could revolutionize the way we interact with AI.
As the race for AI innovation intensifies, Baidu’s next move will be crucial in maintaining its competitive edge in an ever-evolving market.
FAQs
What is the main feature of Baidu’s Ernie 5.0?
Ernie 5.0 is set to significantly enhance its multimodal capabilities, enabling it to process and convert data across different forms, including text, video, images, and audio.
How does Baidu’s AI differ from OpenAI’s models?
While both Baidu and OpenAI focus on generative AI, Baidu’s Ernie model is competing with OpenAI’s ChatGPT by emphasizing cost-effective solutions and advanced reasoning abilities, as demonstrated by startups like DeepSeek.
When is Ernie 5.0 expected to release?
While Baidu has not officially announced a release date for Ernie 5.0, it is expected to be launched in the second half of 2025.