On Tuesday, Baidu (9888.HK) announced that its AI chatbot, “Ernie Bot,” has attracted over 200 million users, maintaining its status as China’s leading ChatGPT-like chatbot amid growing competition. Since December, the user base has approximately doubled. The chatbot was launched publicly eight months ago.
Baidu’s CEO, Robin Li, revealed that Ernie Bot’s API is utilized 200 million times daily, reflecting the frequency of user requests for task execution. Additionally, Li mentioned at a conference in Shenzhen that the chatbot now serves 85,000 enterprise clients.
In February, Li informed analysts about Baidu’s revenue generation from Ernie, noting that in the fourth quarter, the company made several hundred million yuan through AI-enhanced advertising services and by aiding other companies in developing their own models. Ernie Bot, which debuted as China’s first homegrown ChatGPT-like chatbot last March, gained approval for public release in August as one of the first eight AI chatbots sanctioned by Beijing.
China differs from many other nations by requiring pre-approval for deploying generative AI services. Recent figures indicate that domestic rivals, especially the “Kimi” chatbot from Moonshot AI—a year-old startup supported by Alibaba—are rapidly gaining ground on Ernie Bot. According to data from AIcpb.com, Ernie Bot had 14.9 million visits across its app and website last month, while Kimi recorded 12.6 million visits.
Furthermore, Kimi’s growth rate surpassed Ernie’s significantly, with a 321.6% increase in visits from February to March, compared to Ernie Bot’s 48% growth. Despite their progress, Chinese generative AI services trail behind Western alternatives. OpenAI’s ChatGPT remains the world’s most popular generative AI service, with a 9% increase in traffic last month, totaling 1.86 billion views according to AIcpb.com.
China has recently expedited the approval process for AI services, underlining AI as a strategic technology sector for competing globally. Last week, state media reported that 117 large AI models have been approved so far.