Baidu has unveiled the latest edition of its generative AI model, ERNIE 4.0.

The Chinese technology company has said that the chatbot’s capabilities rival those of OpenAI’s GPT-4. ERNIE is an acronym for “Enhanced Representation from kNowledge IntEgration”.

Search engine plans. Baidu is planning to integrate ERNIE 4.0 into its search engine, maps, business tools and cloud services. This will change how the search engine responds to queries, by providing customized answers instead of lists of results and links, according to Baidu CEO Robin Li.

The exact timeline for these changes is yet to be confirmed.

Capabilities. Baidu CEO, Li, claimed that the ERNIE model has been “significantly improved” in terms of understanding queries, generating more advanced responses and memory functionality. Speaking at an event in Beijing, he said that the 4.0 version can:

• Generate a car commercial within minutes.
• Solve complicated math problems.
• Create plots for novels from scratch.

Why we care. The potential ramifications of integrating ERNIE across its suite of products, including its search engine. are substantial, potentially reshaping rankings, traffic and advertising. The exact magnitude of these effects is uncertain at this point, so international search marketers should stay on top of the latest developments.

Language issues. ERNIE 4.0’s primary language is Mandarin Chinese. It isn’t yet able to process English queries to the same advanced level.

Availability. The ERNIE Bot was first unveiled in March and was made available to the public in August. The 4.0 model has not yet been rolled out to the general public, however, Baidu has invited some people to test it.

What Baidu is saying. Li said in a statement:

• “ERNIE 4.0 has achieved a full upgrade with drastically improved performance in understanding, generation, reasoning, and memory.”
• “These four core capabilities form the foundation of AI-native applications and have now unleashed unlimited opportunities for new innovations.”

But. Despite Li’s big claims, analysts seem unimpressed, according to Reuters.