Baidu Set to Challenge ChatGPT in March

Expert says CCP oversight will limit Baidu's development

People sit below a Baidu logo at the Baidu headquarters in Beijing on Dec. 17, 2014. Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images

China’s Baidu announced it will complete the internal testing of Ernie Bot (Chinese name: Wenxin Yiyan), a ChatGPT-style AI project, in March and open it to the public. However, some experts are not optimistic about Baidu’s product due to the ubiquitous censorship of “sensitive words” under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) rule.

On Feb. 7, Baidu Inc confirmed that Ernie Bot, its language model-based chatbot product, will complete internal testing and be available to the public in March.

“At present, Ernie Bot is in the sprint before launching,” reads information quoted on Baidu Encyclopedia. “According to the pace of Google and Microsoft, the open internal testing of Ernie Bot may be ahead of schedule.”

“ChatGPT is a milestone of artificial intelligence, and it is also a watershed, which means that the development of AI technology has reached a critical point, and enterprises need to deploy as soon as possible,” Chinese media reported.

ChatGPT, which is backed by Microsoft, offers Chinese services. However, Ren Jun, Baidu’s product manager, believes that the China-based company has its own strength.

“For example, AI painting can be done by many companies at home and abroad, but Baidu understands the Chinese language system better,” Ren told Caixin, a Chinese financial publication, on Jan. 6.

Screens displaying the logos of Microsoft and ChatGPT, a conversational artificial intelligence application software developed by OpenAI. Lionel Bonaventure/AFP via Getty Images

Speaking to The Epoch Times on Feb. 9, Japan-based electronics engineer Li Jixin said he was “not optimistic” about Baidu’s product competing with ChatGPT, not only because of the technology gap, but also because of the “sensitive words” identified by the CCP.

“Such AI chat software is based on extensive training to complete conversations automatically. Once the training is complete, even the engineers who designed the software can’t predict what the AI software will say,” Li said. “The CCP has long been engaged in [an] information blockade, and there are sensitive words everywhere, so the CCP will think that such AI software without ‘party spirit' will bring risks to its rule.”

Li analyzed that three methods can be used to prevent AI software from saying sensitive words: manual censorship, which requires enormous manpower and degrades AI to artificial; censorship of AI software training materials, which will result in poor performance of the software; and simply shutting down AI software when it is out of control.

“No matter which one is used, AI chat software will not develop well due to the CCP’s censorship of speech,” he said.

In addition to the upcoming Ernie Bot, Baidu has already launched a series of Wenxin products, including “Wenxin Yige” for AI creative painting, “Wenxin Bazhong,“ an industry-level search system driven by a large model; and ”Wenxin Big Model,“ which was upgraded in November 2022 and self-described by Baidu as ”the industry’s largest industrial big model system.”

Baidu Benefited From US Investment

Baidu was listed on NASDAQ on Aug. 5, 2005. The U.S. listing boosted the growth of the group, then known as the “Google of China,” which is now the most advanced company in natural language processing in China.

A Baidu booth (L) at the Light of Internet Expo ahead of the 5th World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, Zhejiang Province, China, on Nov. 6, 2018. STR/AFP/Getty Images

Baidu is not the only Chinese company that has benefited from U.S. investment. According to a recent report by Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technologies, U.S. investors invested $40.2 billion in 251 Chinese AI companies in the seven years from 2015 to 2021, accounting for 37 percent of the total financing of Chinese AI companies during the period. Of these, 91 percent of U.S. investment went to Chinese AI companies at the venture capital stage.

The report, based on information from data provider Crunchbase, also pointed out that early-stage venture funding can provide benefits beyond capital, such as technical guidance, increased corporate visibility, and networking.

“For American investors, it’s true that over the last 20 to 30 years there have been many successful examples of Chinese companies imitating American companies, such as Baidu imitating Google, Tencent QQ imitating ICQ, and Alibaba and Taobao imitating eBay. They have all been hugely successful and benefited American investors,” Li Jixin said.

“However, things are different now. The underlying investment environment for Chinese companies has changed dramatically.”

“In terms of the international environment, as U.S.-China relations deteriorate, geopolitical and investment risks increase, the channel for Chinese companies to list in the United States becomes more and more narrow, and it is difficult for U.S. investors to make profits as quickly as in previous years.”

In addition, the CCP’s “extremely opaque” policies make it “impossible for investors to predict corporate trends, increasing investment risks,” according to Li.

“On the other hand, the CCP’s increasingly strict control over all aspects of society is bound to limit and control the development of overseas and private capital.”

CCP’s Ambition to Overtake US Unlikely

In the field of AI, the “New Generation of AI Development Plan” released by the CCP’s State Council in 2017, set goals including: “By 2030, the overall theory, technology, and application of AI will reach the world’s leading level. [China will] become the world’s main AI innovation center,” and “lay an important foundation for becoming one of the top innovative countries and economic powers.”

On Jan. 11, 2023, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology once again stressed the importance of developing AI at the national work conference and vowed to implement the “Robot Plus” plan nationwide, encouraging local governments that meet the conditions to take the initiative.

While the CCP has been trying to catch up with the United States in AI in recent years, things seem to be turning against its goal.

According to the latest edition of Asia Power Index by Lowy Institute, an Australian think-tank, the CCP’s strict Zero-COVID policies during the COVID-19 pandemic have significantly reduced China’s overall power, stalling its progress in catching up with the United States.

The study argues that Beijing’s power in Asia has slumped and is unlikely to overtake the United States by the end of the century.

The United States ranked first in overall strength with a score of 80.7, according to the report. China came in second, with a composite score of 72.5, 8.2 points behind the United States. Compared to its 2021 composite score, China lost 2.1 points.

The draconian Zero-COVID policies also affected China’s score on “Cultural Influence,” where it saw the biggest drop, losing 10.3 points.