This recent milestone for Baidu comes after a bittersweet start in the sector. Rushing to keep up with market trends, Baidu introduced Ernie Bot in March, only to find that the product fell short of expectations.
From Disappointment to Over a Million Users
Rather than leaving a positive impression on investors, the Asian tech company's conversational chatbot raised numerous questions about its actual capabilities. There were no live demonstrations; instead, a series of pre-recorded videos were released.
In the showcased material, Ernie Bot theoretically competed with ChatGPT by engaging in various activities, such as holding conversations in Chinese (the only available language) and performing mathematical calculations.
Since then, Ernie Bot has been actively in development and restricted to a small group of users. This changed on Thursday with the global launch of the tool, providing access to anyone with a Chinese phone number.
Ernie Bot is accessible through a dedicated page on the Baidu platform, where users can register and start using it. It seamlessly integrates into Baidu's mobile search app, much like Microsoft's Bing.
Ernie Bot: A Powerful Language Model
Built on the foundations of the ERNIE 3.0 and PLATO language models, Ernie Bot promises to generate high-quality texts, summarize documents, answer questions, and even engage in conversation threads, allowing users to "feel its heart."
The Chinese company appears to aim for a touch of humanity with its chatbot. In addition to the mentioned features, Ernie Bot will expand its functionality with an add-on store expected to grow over time, a trend also seen in ChatGPT.
An intriguing feature offered by this alternative is the ability to generate images directly from text within the chat window. Simply describe what you want in words, and the application will take care of the rest.
Ernie Bot is also adopting a feedback mechanism similar to its competitors, at least according to Baidu's claims. User interactions will be collected and used to enhance the chatbot's performance.
Over a Million Users in Less Than 20 Hours
It's worth noting that before reaching 20 hours of global availability, Baidu's flagship product exceeded one million users, as reported by The Verge. Whether Ernie Bot will achieve the necessary success to change investor perceptions remains to be seen, but its rapid adoption by users is undoubtedly a promising start.
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