Baidu announced that its AI chatbot, “Ernie Bot,” has surpassed 200 million users, reaching a significant milestone in its effort to stay as China’s top ChatGPT-like chatbot amid increasing competition.
The user base has doubled since December, with the chatbot being available to the public for eight months.
CEO Robin Li revealed that Ernie Bot’s application programming interface (API) is used 200 million times daily, showing its widespread adoption for various tasks by users.
The number of business clients using the chatbot has grown to 85,000, highlighting its popularity in the corporate sector.
Ernie Bot started generating revenue for Baidu in February by using AI to enhance advertising services and helping other companies build their own models.
Although Ernie Bot was the first domestically developed ChatGPT-like chatbot announced in China last March, it only received approval for public release in August, becoming one of the first eight AI chatbots approved by Beijing.
Baidu Ernie Bot (Via Paul Goldberg/Shutterstock)
Despite Ernie Bot’s success, it faces tough competition from domestic rivals, the “Kimi” chatbot from Alibaba-backed startup Moonshot AI.
Recent data shows that Kimi is rapidly gaining popularity, with visits increasing by 321.6% in March compared to February. In comparison, Ernie Bot saw growth of more than 48% during the same period.
While Chinese generative AI services still lag behind those in the West, efforts to speed up approvals for AI services indicate China’s commitment to competing in the global technology arena.
Last week, state media reported that 117 major AI models had been approved, underscoring the government’s focus on AI development as a strategic priority in the technological competition with the United States.
