Chinese tech giant Baidu has introduced a new artificial intelligence reasoning model and made its chatbot services free, stepping up competition in the AI sector.
The move comes as Chinese technology firms race to enhance their AI platforms, following the disruption caused by start-up DeepSeek’s cost-effective open-source model in January.
Baidu announced in a WeChat post that its latest AI reasoning model, X1, delivers performance comparable to DeepSeek’s but at a lower cost. The company also introduced Ernie 4.5, a new foundation model, both of which are now available through its AI chatbot, Ernie Bot.
Originally set for release later this month, Baidu made the models free to access more than two weeks ahead of schedule, removing the previous monthly subscription requirement.
Baidu was among the first companies in China to launch a generative AI platform in 2023, but it has since faced growing competition from rivals like ByteDance and Moonshot AI, whose chatbots have gained popularity.
DeepSeek disrupted the industry by introducing an AI model that matches the performance of leading US-made platforms like ChatGPT while being significantly cheaper to develop. Its open-source approach has led to widespread adoption by Chinese businesses and government agencies, forcing other AI companies to respond.
Even Baidu has integrated DeepSeek’s R1 reasoning model into its search engine.
Other Chinese tech giants have also ramped up their AI efforts. In February, WeChat owner Tencent unveiled a new AI model that it claimed was faster than DeepSeek’s while still incorporating some of its technology. Meanwhile, Alibaba, which is collaborating with Apple on AI development for iPhones in China, announced a $52 billion investment in AI over the next three years. The company also released an upgraded AI assistant powered by its open-source Qwen reasoning model.
Baidu has now confirmed plans to make its Ernie AI models open-source by June 30, following DeepSeek’s lead in democratising AI development.
